Random Fics
by Fluorescent Rose
Summary: just some random fics i wrote
1. Chapter 1

Wait For You.

Skulduggery POV

It has been 10 minutes since the argument between me and Valkyrie and already Ghastly is taking me out to cheer me up. Typical Bespoke. I suppose it was my fault, I said some pretty harsh stuff.

We are now in my Bentley on our way to a karaoke club. How boring. I only agreed to this is because, well, he said it would be fun and I suppose he is my best friend.

When we arrived at a club called 'Dark Palm' we went and sat at a table in the corner of the room. Even now I have my human body back I'm still self-conscious around others. I had my head down when Ghastly spoke.

"Cheer up, Skul. She'll forgive you."

I sighed, "No, No she won't. You should have heard the things I said." I replied softly. I kept my head down as the next person came on stage and started to sing. Her angelic voice filled the stage. I recognised that voice, I have heard it countless times. Valkyrie. I listened to the lyrics carefully.

_I never felt nothing in the world like this before  
Now I'm missing you, and I'm wishing you would come back through my door  
Oh, why did you have to go?  
You could have let me know  
So now I'm all alone_

Girl, you could have stayed but you wouldn't give me a chance  
With you not around, it's a little bit more than I can stand  
Oh, and all my tears, they  
Keep runnin' down my face  
Why did you turn away?

So why does your pride make you run and hide?  
Are you that afraid of me?  
But I know it's a lie what you keep inside  
This is not how you want it to be

So, baby, I will wait for you  
'Cause I don't know what else I can do  
Don't tell me I ran out of time  
If it takes the rest of my life  
Baby, I will wait for you  
If you think I'm fine it just ain't true  
I really need you in my life  
No matter what I have to do  
I'll wait for you

Been a long time since you called me  
You gotta be feeling crazy  
How can you walk away  
everything stays the same?  
I just can't do it, baby

What will it take to make you come back?  
Girl, I told you what it is, and it just ain't like that  
Why can't you look at me?  
You're still in love with me  
Don't leave me crying

Baby, why can't we just, just start over again  
Get it back to the way it was?  
If you give me a chance, I can love you right  
But you're telling me it won't be enough

So why does your pride make you run and hide?  
Are you that afraid of me?  
But I know it's a lie what you're keeping inside  
That is not how you want it to be

Baby, I will wait for you  
Oh  
Baby, I will wait for you  
If it's the last thing I do

Baby, I will wait for you  
'Cause I don't know what else I can do  
Don't tell me I ran out of time  
If it takes the rest of my life  
Baby, I will wait for you  
If you think I find it just ain't true  
I really need you in my life  
No matter what I have to do  
I'll wait for you

I'll be waiting.

I looked up to see her tear stained face. I ran round the edge of the room 'til I got to the stage and i climbed the steps. When I reached her I kissed her deeply. I could hear catcalls and cheers from every corner of the karaoke club.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N God I'm really depressing, these first few fics will be about Vaulduggery breaking up xx BTW Skulduggery's human XxX**

**P.S please PM or Review and ideas xx**

**Enjoy ~**

**SKULDUGGERY POV:**

I can't take it anymore. It's been a week since I told her how I feel and it's been a week since we last spoke. I've left voicemail upon voicemail and she won't answer them. I just can't live my life like this. So I will end it. I will write a note for everyone and leave it at their house.

_Dear Ghastly,_

_You know you are the best friend I have ever had and I will miss you dearly, but I just can't take the loneliness anymore. It has been a week and I don't think that Valkyrie will ever realise how much I love her. I haven't heard from her since then. I am so sorry. Don't try to stop me. This is something that I have to do. Goodbye._

_Skulduggery..._

_Dear Tanith, _

_You are like a sister to Valkyrie, so please look after her when I'm gone. Goodbye._

_Skulduggery..._

_Dear Valkyrie,_

_You know that I love you so much it hurts. But I can see that you don't feel the same way so I will leave you. Goodbye._

_Skulduggery XXX_

_P.S I will love you always._

Now that I have written and posted the letters I will go now. I know exactly where to go. Since I have become human I have realised how fragile our lives actually are. There are so many ways to die. And I have the perfect one along with the perfect place. The place that meant the most to me and Valkyrie. Aranmore Farm.

I have always wondered what a bullet felt like. Now I'll know.

**GHASTLY'S POV**

I walked in to my office and checked my post where a note fell out. It was written in the familiar curly handwriting that belongs to the one and only Skulduggery Pleasant. I opened it not prepared for what I read.

OH MY GOD HES GOING TO KILL HIMSELF!

I flipped out my phone and called Tanith.

"Tanith, Skulduggerys going to kill himself!" I practically screamed down the phone.

"You got a letter too?" She asked me kind of confused.

"Yeah I got a letter. What about Valkyrie?" I asked her once I calmed down a bit.

"Yeah, she got one too. She keeps on blaming herself for it. I honestly don't know what to do." She replied, worry etched into her voice.

"Wait for me at her house, I'll be there soon."

"Okay, but hurry, I don't know how long she'll last."

"Okay, bye love you."

"Love you too."

I clicked end call and ran.

**VALKYRIES GENERAL POV**

Tanith was worried. She hated seeing her best friend like this. Valkyrie was laying in her bed balling her eyes out when a thought popped into her head. She knew she had to go see him. It was the only way. She ran through the landing, down the stairs and into the kitchen to where Tanith was.

Tanith took in her red puffy eyes and tear-stained face. Tanith had never seen Valkyrie like this. She always thought as her as a little sister yet she's never seen her cry.

"I know where we can find him." Valkyrie said as she started to pull Tanith by her arm.

"Wait, I think we should wait for Ghastly" Tanith said desperately, hoping that she could get through to her best friend. It didn't work.

"No. It could be too late by then." She was right and Tanith knew it.

"Fine, where we off to?" She asked giving in and grabbing her motorbike keys then running to catch up with a fast walking Valkyrie.

"Aranmore Farm." She replied getting onto the motorbike.

"How do you know this?"

"It's the place that means the most to the both of us."

"Okay." Tanith said dragging the word out. She was just about to take off when Ghastlys van came speeding round the corner.

He rolled down his window and asked where they were going. Once Tanith explained, they began speeding off.

**SKULDUGGERYS GENERAL POV**

Skulduggery was at the place where the portal was getting his trusty revolver out of its holster. He pulled back the hammer and was just about to pull back the hammer when he heard the all too familiar engine of Taniths death trap. He smiled to himself and tears started to pour down his face.

**GENERAL POV **

Once Tanith had driven close enough, she killed the engine. Valkyrie immediately sprung off and ran up to Skulduggery. She flung her arms around Skulduggerys neck and kissed him full on the lips. After what felt like forever, they both broke apart needing air for their lungs.

"I love you. I guess it just took me a while to figure that out." She said looking into his startling blue eyes. "But don't you ever do that to me again." She said as tears threatened to roll down her already red and puffy cheeks. She didn't stop them.

"I promise." Skulduggery said as he pulled her in for another kiss. And that was the start of their beautiful relationship.

**A/N Sorry for any mistakes. And if it doesn't make sense. I didn't proof read. But please review. I love reading all of your wonderful reviews at school. They make me so happy. Also any idea, please share them with me and I will try to create a story from them. Cheers Lav.**

**MedolicHeart~ **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Okay... so basically this is my first fanfic so please give me all the criticism you got. I thought of this doing handstands in the swimming pool...**

**NEED TO KNOW:**

**Valkyrie is 18 and she's told her parents about the unusual world she lives in so they've gone to live in Australia. Val's living in Gordon's Mansion-like-house. Her and Skulduggery are going out and have been for 8 ½ months. Skul's also human... Don't ask me how.**

It was 1:23pm when Valkyrie Cain walked through the front door to her house, now that she had inherited it from her dead uncle, – Gordon – however she would always call it Gordon's house.

As soon as Skulduggery Pleasant heard her walk in he said "you took your-"He stopped as soon as he saw her and her tear-stained face. She looked broken. As well as her red and puffy eyes, she had a nasty-looking bruise on her left cheek, a bloody nose; a brand new coat ripped and looked like she got dressed blindfolded.

As soon as she saw Skulduggery she immediately ran over and into his arms.

"Val, what's wrong? What happened?" He asked. Concern in his voice.

"I-i-i w-was r-r-raped." She sobbed into his impeccable suit.

"WHAT!? Where is he?"

"_They_ ran off when I woke up."

"w-what do you mean 'woke up'?" curiosity edged in his voice masked with concern. Valkyrie sobbed harder on his shoulder while Skulduggery walked her over to her favourite armchair by the fireplace. He sat down and lightly pulled Valkyrie down on top of him, he cuddled her to him.

"They knocked me out cold from behind," she felt the back of her head and winced. Sure enough there was a brand new lump forming on the back of her head. "Then, next thing I knew, I woke up in an abandoned shop, naked." She choked back a sob and then she quietly said, "I grabbed my clothes, put them on and ran." She started to sob harder than she ever sobbed before.

It was a few hours later when Tanith Low decided to walk through the left-open-door with Ghastly Bespoke, hand in hand, right behind her.

"Hello? Anyone here? You know it's a very bad idea to leave the door open. Anyone can just waltz-"Tanith stopped when her beloved Ghastly tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at the pair in the chair behind her in the homely living room.

"Val! Skul! What happened!?" Tanith said to Skulduggery and a now-sleeping-Valkyrie. Ghastly following suit.

"Ssh Tanith, she just fell asleep" Skulduggery whispered, stroking Valkyries hair off of her face from where it fell into her beautiful, sparkling brown eyes. Though in light of recent events, they have certainly lost their sparkle and left dullness instead.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Ghastly stage-whispered.

"She was raped getting milk." Was Skulduggery's answer.

"What?!" Both Tanith and Ghastly whispered together. Skulduggery picked up one sleeping Valkyrie and placed her on one of the long settee and placed a blanket over her frail and delicate body. He lightly kissed her on the head.

"Come with me." Skulduggery whispered before silently walking into the kitchen. Ghastly obeyed his best friends order while Tanith cast a worried glance at her best friend, of whom she thought of as a little sister, before following the two men into the kitchen.

Once they were in the relatively clean kitchen, Skulduggery and Tanith sat down opposite each other with Ghastly standing behind his leather-clad girlfriend.

"Well," Skulduggery began, "at 11 AM ish Val had a headache, so being the solution to everything, I offered to make her a cup of tea. So I went to the kitchen and put the tea bag in her favourite mug, boiled the kettle, and went to the fridge for the milk-"

"Yeah Skul, we all know how to make a cuppa." Tanith interrupted with her London accent that Ghastly loved so much.

"But there wasn't any left," Skulduggery continued, ignoring what Tanith said. "So I went to tell Val I was going to go and get some for her. But of course with her being too stubborn for her own good, she insisted that she get some. She said and I quote 'I'll get it, the fresh air'll do me good.'" Skul sighed. "So I let her go, being the handsome gentleman that I am. Fat lot of good that did." He sighed again and buried his head in his hands so he could hide the burning streaks of tears running down his cheeks.

"Hey, Skul, you didn't know what could've happened, don't beat yourself up over it." Ghastly said, trying to soothe his friend in need.

"Anyway," Skulduggery said, sitting up and wiping away the fresh batch of tears brimming in his electric blue eyes threatening to roll down the side of his angelic face. "From the way she told me, it seems she was hit hard over the back of her head and then she woke up in some abandoned shop, naked, with a group of guys running away." He choked back a sob and Tanith immediately there giving him the tightest hug she has ever given anybody. "It's just, how could they do this to her, guys? She's an innocent young woman. There are bruises covering her body from head to toe. I keep insisting that she sees Kenspeckle but she simply refuses. You should have seen her when she walked in! Guys , she looked broken. I – I've never seen her like this... i just don't know what to do."

"I'll go check on her." Tanith said as she broke the hug and walked into the living room, leaving Ghastly to give Skulduggery a massive bear hug. It was then they heard the shriek and the crash.

Skulduggery and Ghastly ran into the same room Tanith went into a few seconds ago and judging by the looks on their faces. They were confused at what they saw.

After a moment, Skulduggery ran to Valkyrie, who was sitting in the corner of the living room with her knees drawn up to her chin and tears streaming down her face, while Ghastly ran to Tanith, who was struggling to get up from the broken coffee table.

"Tan, what happened?" asked Ghastly.

"I was just stroking her hair then next thing I know I'm on the coffee table and Val's in the corner." Tanith replied.

Skul crouched down to Valkyrie and pulled her into a hug, stroking the back of her head, careful of the throbbing bruise. "Val, are you okay?" He asked.

"Tan, I – I'm so sorry, I'm just a little shaken up." Valkyrie said to her big sister-like-friend.

"Hey, Val, Don't fret love. I'm fine." Tanith said. "Are you okay?" she said, repeating Skulduggerys previous question. Valkyrie shook her head on Skulduggerys shoulder and cried harder.

"C'mon, let's get you upstairs." Skulduggery murmured softly into Valkyries ear. He picked her up bridle style and carried her upstairs, into her room and into her bed. She didn't need to get changed as she showered and got into a baggy shirt that Skulduggery had once bought her with some cotton shorts before Tanith and Ghastly had shown up. Skulduggery turned to leave, when he felt small hand on his big arm.

"Please don't leave me." Valkyrie squeaked.

Skulduggery got in next to her pulling the duvet cover up to her chin. She laid her head on his chest and drifted back to sleep to the feel of his fingers stroking her hair and the beating of his heart.

About an hour later...

Skulduggery was half-way down the stairs when he heard the scream. Valkyrie. He gracefully ran up the stairs and into her room to find her thrashing her arms in the air and screaming in her sleep. The man in the impeccable pin-striped suit ran to her and squatted, whispering, "its okay, Val, It's me." In his velvety voice that always seemed to calm her down. However tonight it didn't work. Instead he caught her hands in his and ever-so-gently pushed them down to her sides. That seemed to have worked. It was when he was on his knees next to her bed and stroking her slightly rosy cheek, when Ghastly and Tanith ran in. In unison they asked, "Was Val screaming?" once they saw Skulduggery and Valkyrie, they moved from the doorway to the end of Valkyries abnormally large bed.

"I think it was a nightmare." Skulduggery whispered. "I'm going to stay here with her, your both welcome to stay if you would like."

"Thanks Skul." Ghastly whispered, careful not to wake Valkyrie up, as he half dragged Tanith to sit with him on the armchair next to Valkyries bed, on the opposite side of Skulduggery. They all sat in silence with Skulduggery now sitting in Valkyries bed beside her, stroking her cheek and Tanith sitting on Ghastlys legs, her head leaning on Ghastlys shoulder, her hair being stroked by the scarred hands she loved so much. All were hoping Valkyrie was okay.

After a while, they could all hear three sets of normal breathing and one set of frantic breaths. Once they all heard the uneven breathing they looked at each other, and then looked at Valkyrie just as she shot up in bed and screamed, "NOOOO!" Val looked around quickly and took in Skulduggery, Ghastly and Tanith all staring at her, wide-eyed with worry.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Tanith asked getting up off of Ghastlys lap and slowly making her way over to the panicked Valkyrie. Once she was at her side, she climbed in and pulled her into a light embrace, stroking her straight dark brown hair with her long and worn fingers. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" she repeated. She could feel her shoulder getting wetter by the second and Valkyries shoulders shaking.

Valkyrie could feel Skulduggerys warm hand rubbing her back while Taniths long fingers raking through her hair. She pulled away from Tanith and looked at all of them before looking deep into her best friends crystal blue eyes.

"Billy-Ray Sanguine."

**VALKYRIE POV**

I heard everyone gasp and Tanith gently pulled me in for another hug so she could whisper, "What do you mean 'Billy-Ray Sanguine'?" her warm breathe on my ear made me shiver.

"He was one of them." I whispered back. She broke the hug holding me at arm's-length and looked into my eyes. I could see anger in hers. "Are you sure?" She said. I nodded. From the look on Skulduggery and Ghastlys faces, I don't think that they know what we were talking about.

Just when Skulduggery was about to speak, a deep rumbling sound erupted from the floor and up came the one and only, Billy-Ray Sanguine. I pulled the duvet cover up to my chin and wriggled over the bed to behind Tanith. I felt nervous under his stare.

"Now, now lil' darlin' don' be hidin' from me. I've 'ad the privilege of seein' ya at ya weakest 'n' mos' vulnerable state." I could feel the hot tears streaming down my face and buried it on my best friends shoulder. I was waiting for it to click in Ghastly and Skulduggerys head. I must say for a detective he sure is slow. However when it did he looked from him to me and I nodded. I could see anger in his normally amazingly bright green eyes. I watched him launch himself at Sanguine and tackle him to the floor. In all the commotion, Sanguine dropped the straight razor that he was flipping in his hand.

"Get the razor." I whispered into Taniths ear. As soon as i did, she sprung off of the bed and grabbed the razor. She then leapt back into a sitting position next to me and hugged me close, being careful of the bruises covering my body. She placed the razor under my pillow. Over her shoulder I could see that Ghastly had joined in on the fighting and between the both of them, they managed to get Sanguine pinned up against the wall. Skulduggery had a hand engulfed in flames to Sanguines head.

"Why'd you do it?" Ghastly questioned the murderer.

"I was paid ta." Billy-Ray answered.

"Who by?" Skulduggery asked.

"Can' say." He replied.

"Why not?" Ghastly again.

"'Cause I made a pact."

"What kind of pact?" Back to Skulduggery.

"The kind where I can' tell ya I'm workin' for Dusk-"Sanguine facepalmed. "Oh shoot."

"Okay, now what does Dusk want with Valkyrie?"

"Well since I've already told ya who imma workin' for, I migh' as well tell ya wha' 'is plans are. To be honest I 'ate 'em." Sanguine babbled. "'e wan's a kid. A kid tha's half human 'n' half vampire." He continued.

Skul looked from him pinned against my bedroom wall to me still sitting on my bed with the duvet cover up to my chin and Taniths arm draped around my neck. He then looked back to Sanguine and said, "Why Valkyrie?"

Sanguine sighed. "C'mon detective wha' 'as she go' tha' no o'er lil' darlin' 'as?" He tapped on Skulduggerys head. I swear nothing goes on in that thick head of his. Either that or his ego takes it all up. Finally it clicked. Finally being the keyword.

"Her blood." Was all he said. He looked deep in thought. What he could possibly be thinking boggles my mind. However Sanguine took advantage of this and kicked him in the shins and twisted Ghastlys arm behind his back nearly snapping it. Skulduggery made his way over to the two men and Sanguine pushed Ghastly into Skulduggery. He then sunk back into the floor and disappeared from view.

Skulduggery ran to me after disentangling himself from Ghastly and pulled me into a massive bear hug.

"Are you okay?" he asked after seeing me wince.

"Yeah, just sore from my bruises, nothing serious." I said.

"I still think you should see Kenspeckle."

"Fine." I mumbled getting up, but once I got up I just fell back down on the bed with a grunt. I tried and failed to stand up. It was like I had forgotten how to stand. "Uhh, guys." I tried again, however this time I fell onto my bruised knees and let out a quiet scream. When they heard me scream the all snapped their heads round to look at me. Just then we all heard a low rumbling just as a hand shot up, grabbed my ankle and pulled me under. The last thing I saw was Skulduggery running towards me with a scared look on his face. That was what broke me. I have never seen Skulduggery scared and I knew he was scared for me; however it still broke me all the same.

**SKULDUGGERY POV**

When she went under I was genuinely scared. It was weird; I have never been scared before. I sank to my knees where she was just a few moments ago and tears poured down my face.

**VALKYRIES POV**

When I woke up slumped forward, I found that I had been tied up. My shackled hands were tied to my shackled feet. I felt a dampness of where my magic should have been. I tried to sit up. It was a baaaaad idea. Instead, I drew my knees up to my chin and rested my head on my knees and my arms hugging my knees. My back killed and I vaguely remember sanguine pulling me under the floor then hitting me over the head, again, and then waking up here, wherever here is. It was then I realised that I wasn't alone.

"Hello Valkyrie." Dusk said and I groaned. "Do you happen to remember yesterday when you woke up and your poor body was battered and bruised?"

"How could I forget?" I mumbled.

"What sweetie?" Dusk asked obviously not hearing me.

"Nothing and don't call me sweetie." I said a little louder. "Where are we?" I asked.

"Well since I have you captured and pregnant, what's the harm?" he started.

"I am NOT pregnant!" I said though I did feel a little sick.

"Whatever. Well we are in my basement-"

"How cliché." I interrupted.

"Whatever." He said again. I swear he loves that word. "We are in my house on 'Gold Street'." I just stared at him.

"Okay," I said dragging the word out. "Please can I have some water then?" I said making my voice hoarse. Little did he know I had my phone in my pocket the whole time...

Once he left I pulled my feet closer to my thigh and tried to reach into my pocket for my phone, jackpot. However Dusk had just walked back in. I quickly slid my phone behind my back and sat like I was before.

"Here you go, sweetheart." Dusk said as he unhooked the shackles from my wrists from the shackles from my feet and gave me a plastic bottle of water. I gulped it down, not realising how thirsty I actually was until now.

"Thanks and don't call me sweetheart." I repeated firmly.

"Whatever," I swear if he says that once more I will hit him. "I'll bring you some food later. After all, you'll be living here for about 5 weeks, so get comfy." I groaned at this then turned to him confused.

"Why 5 weeks?"

"Because your magic and my vampireness will fasten the process. Bye." He walked out of the room, leaving silence in his wake. I grabbed my phone just as it started to ring. I clicked answer and held it to my ear.

"Val, thank god. Hello? Are you there? Are you okay? Where are you?" Said the velvety voice I loved so much at the other end of the line. I never realise how much I missed that voice but now I do.

"Hey Skul, yes I'm here, no I'm not okay and I'm in the basement in a house on 'Gold Street' in Dublin." I was silently crying my eyes out. Over the phone I could hear the squeal of the Bentley tyres and the engine roaring.

"Why aren't you okay?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.

"I – I – I," I couldn't speak.

"You're..." he urged.

"I – I – I think I'm pregnant." By now I was crying loudly down the phone.

"Is it?" he asked.

"Dusks? Yeah."

Over the phone I could hear the squeal of the breaks working.

"WHAT!" he shouted down the phone so loudly I had to pull the phone away from my ear. He sounded angry.

"I know." I whispered slightly scared.

"Sorry sweetie." Skulduggery said using the velvety voice he knows I love on me.

"It's okay," I said, my voice stronger than before. "Just please hurry. I love you."

"I love you too. Stay strong."

"I –"that was the moment Dusk chose to walk in. He dropped the plate of food and stormed over to where I was. He grabbed my phone and ended the call to the shouts of, "Val? Are you there? Are you okay? I'll be there soon, just hold on." When the line went dead he slapped me round the face and pulled me up by my throat, not tight enough to choke me but not loose enough to escape.

"If I didn't need you, you would be dead as a doornail right now."

"Nice to know." I really shouldn't have said that. He slapped me round the face again and said, "I said I wouldn't kill you, I never said I wouldn't hurt you."

"Come and have ago if you think you're hard enough." Damn, Tanith is rubbing off on me. That resulted in another slap and a drop to the floor. I quickly returned to the position I was in before and rested my head on my knees as silent tears slid down my cheeks while Dusk stormed out, slamming the door after him.

A few minutes later I was asleep.

When I woke I found myself in well a room, but with the bed I was laying on, a fridge and an open door that I guess led to a bathroom. I was still wearing the all too familiar magic-dampening shackles around my wrists and ankles.

I felt something pressed into my back. I instinctively clicked my fingers, forgetting about the shackles binding my magic, and turned to find the man of my dreams laying there fast asleep. I snuggled into him and drifted to the land of sleep.

**SKULDUGGERY POV**

I woke up to an empty space beside me. I sat up frantically looking from side to side. My eyes locked on a old grimy oak wood door. I ran over to it, best I could with shackles on my wrists and ankles, and pushed the door open a crack

"Val?" I asked gently only to be answered by the sounds of someone coughing up their insides. I pushed the door open wider to find Valkyrie on her knees and her pale face hovering over the toilet bowl. I took three quick strides over to her and held her hair up for her. Once she stopped puking her guts out, she rose and hugged me.

"Not that I'm not ungrateful or anything, but why are you here?" her question was muffled by her face on the chest of my shirt.

_***Flashback***_

After Valkyries phone call, I sped through the streets of Dublin and stopped at Gold Street. The road was deserted and empty. The houses looked abandoned with some of the windows on show boarded up and the windows that weren't, were smashed. To be honest, I'm not surprised Dusk and sanguine chose to live here. The first house I came to had that eerie feel to it. all the windows had mouldy planks of wood nailed to them and the door looked like it was going to give up on its job and just collapse. The bricks didn't look like bricks. In fact they looked like a wall of sickening gray mould.

I went to the red wooden door and was about to knock when something whacked me on the head from behind, knocking me out.

Next thing I knew I was on the floor in a gray-walled room with no windows, just a single light-bulb hanging from loose wires in the middle of the ceiling. There was a simple single bed with used gray pillows and a worn duvet cover. Next to me was a small fridge filled with bottles of water and fruit. Valkyrie was sitting back propped up against the wall. Her face was a beauty and she looked peaceful like she always did when she slept. I picked her up and placed her on the bed, best I could with the damn magic-weakening shackles. I got in next to her and fell into the much welcomed sleep.

_***End of flashback***_

Once I told her this, she stood on her tippy toes and kissed me. However it didn't last long before she went back to being sick in the toilet once again with me holding her hair away from her pale angelic face.

A while later…

We were on the bed, me sitting with my back leaning against the wall and her laying with her head on my lap. I was stroking her hair drifting into back into sleep when none other than Dusk walked in. I ignored him and carried on stroking Valkyries cheek, fully awake now. I figured he wouldn't do anything to hurt her so I'd stick to her as much as possible, which wasn't hard considering he didn't come in much. And if he did ANYTHING to hurt her then I would hurt him. Simples.

"Ahh, Mr pleasant, I see you think you can protect her." He said in a quiet voice so not to disturb the girl in slumber.

"I did. But I was just being stupid. I realise that now."

"And how do you feel about her being the mother of a half vampire, half ancient child?"

"I don't like it, I must admit, but what's done is done. I can't change it but I will be there when she chooses what to do with it."

"Ahh. Don't you see why she's here? Sanguine's right for once. You are a thick-headed man."

"When did he tell you that? Before or after he broke his pact. You know if these shackles weren't around my wrists the both of you would be dead." The look on his face was priceless. "Oh yes, we know of the pact. We know who he was working for and we also know what you wanted with Valkyrie. He also told us that he didn't agree with these plans. He also said this of his own will." That seemed to have made him extremely angry and he stormed out, red faced, and slamming the door behind him, waking Valkyrie.

"What happened?" she asked somewhat sleepily.

"Nothing, Dusk just came to have a nice little chat. Go back to sleep sweetheart. Everything will be fine." I said soothingly to her. She laid back down onto my legs and fled into sleep. Along with me.

**DUSK POV**

I can't believe it! The traitor! How dare him. Good job I don't need him anymore. I'll kill him!

**SANGUINE POV**

"Hey boss!" I said brightly to Dusk. I was walking away when he grabbed me from behind and plunged a knife into my back. It felt like forever when my head finally hit the floor. The word "Traitor." Were the last words I ever heard.

**TANITH POV**

I can't believe of all the thick-headed things, he would go and rescue Valkyrie without us! When I next see him I'm going to make him wish he was still a skeleton!

**VALKYRIE POV**

"_Well now you've had my child you can choose, either I kill you now, kill you in a surprise attack or I can make you like me and we can both watch our daughter grow to be as old as time together. However you won't be able to see that pathetic excuse of a man and friends."_

"_I'd rather die right now than become like you." That was the last thing I said before Dusk ripped my neck open._

I shot up in bed wide-eyed and panting. I felt my neck to find it still there and not bloodied up. I looked at my stomach to find a medium-sized bump. Dusk was right about magic speeding up the process. I felt a warm hand on the small of my back and I turned too quickly causing my neck to click as a result. I winced at the pain and found my eyes locked with dazzling emerald ones. We sat like that for a few moments until he scooped me up into a big cuddly hug. He rubbed my back while tears slid down my cheeks causing them to itch.

"What's wrong, love," Skulduggery asked me while he ran his fingers through my hair. "Nightmare?" I nodded. Even though we've only been there a few days, it feels like forever. Whenever I used to get nightmares Skulduggery sitting with me would always seem to calm me down. However, being trapped in here he seems to have no effect.

"What happened this time?" he asked softly, like he was talking to a child.

"I had the baby and Dusk said that he could either kill me or he could turn me into one of him. I said I'd rather die than the latter so he ripped my neck open." My voice broke on the last word.

"Don't worry Hun, I won't let him touch you." He said trying to soothe me and it worked. I suppose his voice always seems to calm me down. He just has that velvety voice that can calm anyone down. "Why don't I make you a snack?" he questioned. I shook my head in his chest. "C'mon Val you have to eat something." His soothing voice never wavering.

"Not hungry." Responded, his shirt muffled my words.

"But you haven't eaten anything since the night before the 'incident'" that's what we call it now. "Please can you just eat an apple? There your favourite fruit." I looked at him and saw pleading in his emerald eyes wide.

"Fine pretty boy." I gave in giving him a smile as he chuckled. He was just about to get up when the door opened to reveal Dusk. I stared at him scared and Skulduggery held me protectively. Dusk walked to the foot of the bed and just stared at us, his scarred face passive.

"I need Valkyrie to come with me." He said.

"Why do you need Valkyrie to come with you?" Skulduggery asked pulling me tighter. I winced as my bruises from the 'incident' still hadn't healed.

"She needs a check up. You're welcome to come as I know you will anyway but you'll both need to wear these." He said producing two pairs of shackles seemingly out of nowhere. Skulduggery took a pair and carefully placed them around my wrist. I did the same with him; we got up and followed Dusk hand in hand.

"Why are you doing this?" came Skulduggerys voice out of the blue. At that moment we were walking down a maze of hallways. We turned the corner and Dusk opened a door to what I wasn't expecting. Kenspeckle. Tanith. Ghastly. I ran up to them, tears in my eyes and open arms. Tanith and I were a blubbering wreck and Ghastly and Kenspeckle shared a relieved sigh. Dusk ruined the moment by clearing his throat.

"Sorry to ruin this little moment here but I need the baby to be checked on. The only reason your here-"Dusk said pointing at Tanith and Ghastly. "Is because she-"he continued pointing at me. "Is going to stay here for five weeks and she needs to interact with people and I just can't be bothered to talk to her and all these two-"he said pointing to me and Skulduggery. "Do is sit on the bed and cuddle. So you can stay but you must wear the shackles at all times and Professor Kenspeckle you need to stay to keep tabs on the baby so all in all I am not doing it for any of you, I am doing it for me and the baby." Once he finished speaking, he started to walk out of the room when Kenspeckle spoke for the first time.

"Dusk, you do know that I can't 'keep tabs on the baby' as you so kindly put because if we are magically bound then the treatment won't work."

"Fine," Dusk said and started to unlock the kenspeckle's shackles then he moved onto mine when he finished he leant into me and whispered, "No funny business or your boyfriend gets the punishment." Dusk straightened and walked out.

"What did he say Valkyrie?" Skulduggery asked me once Dusk had left.

"Nothing, just threats, same old same old." I answered.

"Are you sure because if you don't want to tell me I won't push It." he whispered in my ear as he pulled me into a massive hug.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay, well let Kenspeckle see you."

"I would but you're kinda hogging me." Tanith snorted.

"Oh, right." He reluctantly let go and lightly pushed me over to Kenspeckle. For the next hour or so he fixed all my bruises and we all sat and caught up on what's happened since we've been gone. Nothing much apparently.

Dusk was leading us back to our room when a crash sounded upstairs. 3 of the 10 infected and Dusk went to detect what it was and left us with 7 infected and 2 of them were built like bodyguards. We didn't stand a chance but we went for it anyway. Well Tanith, Skulduggery and Ghastly did, me and Kenspeckle just stood there watching the 3 fight their way through the infected. I wish I could've helped, but Kenspeckle was practically holding me back saying something about harming the baby. Like I give a monkeys tail about the baby. I don't want it anyway.

Once Tanith, Skulduggery and Ghastly had finished with the infected, they made their way to the stairs with me and Kenspeckle in tow. At the top of the stairs was a key rack where 5 sets of keys were. Once we unlocked the shackles from our wrists and ankles, we made our way to the door that looked like the front door, according to Skulduggery, and opened it. We were all shocked at the view. Cleavers fighting infected along with sorcerers. Skulduggery kissed my forehead before going into battle headfirst. Tanith followed suit along with Ghastly in tow. Along the battlefield were shouts of pain and horror as vampires shed their skin. To my left about 20 metres was Dusk he looked at me and shouted, "I warned you!" he then had a gun from his pocket and aimed it, I followed its line of direction and saw it was aimed at Skulduggerys head. I didn't waste any time in running, shouting for him to get out of the line of fire but it was useless over all of the shouts. I ran straight into the line of fire as the shot ran out, everyone was silent, looking for the person who fired and the person the bullets going to hit. Little did anyone know it went through my stomach and I fell but Skulduggery was there to catch me just like he always promised. I could see the tears in his eyes through my own tears pouring down my face. I was fading into the permanent sleep.

"Val, please stay with me. Please don't leave me. You promised." And he was right, I did promise. When we were in the basement, I promised not to leave him and he promised the same and to always catch me when I fall.

"I love you." Was the last thing I said to the one I love before there was blackness.

**SKULDUGGERY POV**

This can't be happening. It can't. She promised.

I cried onto the dead body of the one I love. My eyes were clenched shut. When I opened them next, there was a brilliant white light surrounding me and Valkyrie. God this is going to sound fairytale, but the gun-shot wound was healed and Dusk was dead, as was all of the infected and vampires. All of the cuts and bruises on all of the other mages and sorcerers were healed. Everything was fine except Valkyrie was still not breathing. Everybody stood in silence around us, at some point Tanith kneeled down next Valkyrie holding her hand, Ghastly next to Tanith. After what seemed like forever, Valkyrie opened her mouth to breathe and her eyes fluttered open. Once she saw me, she took her spare hand and placed it delicately on my cheek; she leaned up and kissed me. After we broke the kiss, I pulled her in for a hug and whispered into her ear, "Don't you ever do that to me again, Baby girl."

She pulled away and rested her forehead against mine and stared into my eyes.

"Valkyrie Cain, will you marry me?" I could see tears shine in her eyes.

"Yes, Skulduggery Pleasant, I will."

That was the start of the lives of Skulduggery and Valkyrie Pleasant.

**A/N Thank you to everyone who read this. And I'm sorry it took so long. School work and all. There is no part 2 thats all there is. Xx**

**Please Review xx**

**MedolicHeart out xD**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Okay, so I got this idea when I woke up, it was pretty weird to wake up and have this idea, but I got a little of my inspiration reading SkulBook the night before. **

**This is written in a form of a diary for the most of it. BTW Val lives at Gordon's mansion.**

**Enjoy~**

**Saturday 11****th**** May 2013**

I AM SOOOOOO EXITED!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

Anywho, I woke up, had a shower and got dressed in my favourite jeans and top. When I went downstairs I found Tanith sitting on Ghastlys lap (surprise surprise they're inseparable) and Skulduggery to be nowhere in sight. But there was a really handsome man sitting on the settee. He had sun-kissed skin and strawberry-blonde hair which fell down to the bottom of his ears. He turned so he was facing me which gave me full view of his face. He had sparkly emerald eyes and kissable lips. He wore jeans that had grass stains at the knees and a navy blue tee-shirt showing of his muscular arms.

"Hello Valkyrie." He said in a smooth velvety voice. I could listen to that voice all day every day. I recognised it straight away.

"Skulduggery?" I asked.

"In the flesh, God I've always wanted to say that." He muttered the last bit under his breath. I didn't waste any time in waiting, I ran to him as he stood up and gave him a bone-crushing hug. Tanith and Ghastly were both looking at us now. We stood there, my arms wrapped around his waist, my head on his chest and his arms round my waist with his head resting on my head, for a while before he said, "Happy Birthday Val." I pulled away and stared into his dreamy eyes, stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. We pulled away after a while to catch our breath. I've wanted to do that for ages. I am now 21 and have never told the man I love my feelings for him. Up till now. x)

"I love you." I said at the same time he said it to me. I never knew he felt the same way.

The rest of the day went by at the speed of light. I got clothes from Ghastly and I got some tickets to a holiday to Gordon's villa in France for two weeks from my parents. There are two tickets so I asked Skul to go with me and he said YES! I am dizzy with excitement. Tanith got me some money and planned this shopping trip that were going on together just before the trip to France. Skulduggery got me a beautiful necklace that has a green (my favourite colour) gemstone in the shape of a love heart. I AM SOOOOO EXCITED!

**Sunday 19****th**** May 2013**

We just arrived at Gordon's villa and we went straight to our rooms to unpack which led to the best night of my life. Every since my birthday me and Skul have become an item.

**GENERAL POV**

Two weeks later they were home and unpacked.

A few days later Skulduggery was in the living room of Gordon's estate waiting for Valkyrie to come downstairs. She wouldn't tell him why she was upstairs. She just said to wait in the living room. However when she did come down stairs, she had tears streaming down her cheeks and a big smile on her face.

When he saw her, Skulduggery was up and running to stand before her to ask what was wrong. But before he could, Valkyrie had her legs around Skulduggerys waist and her arms around his neck. She kissed him passionately. When they broke apart, Skulduggery asked,"What's wrong Val?" she looked deeply into his eyes with a big cheesy smile on her lips.

"I'm pregnant." she said to him. He then had a wide smile on his face and tears in his own eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

It was just an ordinary day for Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain. They just finished fighting off a bunch of Vampires and were on their way back to the Sanctuary to get Valkyries three broken ribs fixed.

Valkyrie and Skulduggery were laughing about a stupid joke someone told Skulduggery; well that's what he said, when Nye walked in on his tentacle-like legs.

"Detective Cain, you may go now." Nye said in that disgustingly nasal voice.

"Finally." Valkyrie said as she jumped down from the bed.

"But take it easy." Nye said as he saw her wince at the strain of her standing.

"Since when do you care?"

"Since I'm the one that has to heal you."

"Fair point."

At that Valkyrie and Skulduggery walked out of the infirmary.

"You know, maybe I should keep a toothbrush in there." Valkyrie said as she and Skulduggery exited the Sanctuary and made their way to Skulduggerys Bentley.

"Why would you do that?" he said.

"Because apart from your place, my parent's house and Gordon's mansion then this is like a second, third, fourth home." She said counting off of her fingers whilst sitting on her perfectly positioned black leather car seat. Skulduggery turned on the engine and smoothly sped out of Roarhaven. Valkyrie turned on the radio to the song 'Skeleton song – Kate Nash' a huge grin broke free on her face and she turned her head to see Skulduggerys facade grinning along with her. They both started singing along to the lyrics, reaching the notes perfectly. The song finished and their grins were still clear on their faces. "That is officially our song." Valkyrie said, giddy as a child at Christmas. Skulduggery chuckled at this.

They arrived at Valkyries House - Gordon's mansion – to find a girl about Valkyries age (19), with long dark hair that came down to the small of her back in ringlets, entering a key into the front door, opening it and walking in. Valkyrie sprung out of the car and up to the front door wedging a foot in the doorway, stopping the front door from closing, this made the girl turn when there wasn't the bang of the door.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" Valkyrie said as she pushed the door open wider to let herself in, mildly aware that skulduggery was behind her. Valkyrie looked at the girl carefully taking in her emerald green eyes, rosy cheeks and full pink lips. Apart from the eyes, she looked like a mini Valkyrie.

"I'm Rosy-Lou Cosette Brunet and I found the key under the ugly excuse for a gnome." The girl said.

"Thank you." Skulduggery mumbled in relief to know he's not the only one that hated the gnome. Valkyrie turned to look at him and rolled her eyes before turning back around to glare daggers at the girl.

"Well, Rosy-Lou, you shouldn't go snooping round people's gnomes." Valkyrie said.

"Please, call me BabyGirl." BabyGirl said. "And I wasn't snooping. I came for help; I was told that you two would be the ones to help me,"

"Who was it that said that?" Valkyrie asked, taking a step closer making BabyGirl take a step back and bump into the sofa.

"'The Grand Mage'."

"What do you mean? Erskine would have told us if he sent you to us."

"Who's Erskine? I'm talking about the grand mage. No one knows who he is, not since the accident that has kept him in his office ever since 2033. Ten years is a long time to be kept in an office."

"What do you mean 2033? Ten years? That would make you from 2043."

"Well Duh, that's the year. Where have you been living?"

"But this is only 2013; you must have time-travelled."

"But I can't time tra-"BabyGirl's eyes were distant.

"What's wrong, BabyGirl?" Valkyrie said slightly worried.

"I just remembered, I wanted a request to time travel but they denied it."

"So why-"

"Wait a sec, how do you know who or what the grand mage is if no one has ever seen him before?" Skulduggery cut in.

"Only the high mages can see him. The rest of us go around making up heroic stories that could make the continuous presence in his office a lot less weird. And I don't know why I'm here." BabyGirl replied

"Okay then, why did you want to time-travel in the first place?" Valkyrie asked.

"I wanted to meet my parents."

Skulduggery went to sit down on the sofa behind BabyGirl, making her conjure a flame in her hand and step back.

"Calm down Hun, I'm just going to sit down." Skulduggery said as he sat down warily.

"Why don't you come sit down so we can bombard you with questions?" Valkyrie said as she sat down next to Skulduggery lifting her legs and placing them on Skulduggerys lap. Skulduggery placed his hands on her ankles and rolled his fake eyes. BabyGirl nodded and claimed the armchair opposite them. Skulduggery absent-mindedly traced patterns on Valkyries ankles and stroked her legs.

"Why did you come to 2013 to meet your parents? Did they die?" Valkyrie winced at the bony elbow leaning on her ribs. "Sorry, that was improper of me to ask that." She mocked in Skulduggery's tone. BabyGirl giggled but said nothing.

"Oh so that's how you want to play it." Skulduggery murmured and began tickling her in the ribcage causing her to gasp and fall of the sofa leaving Skulduggery and BabyGirl laughing their heads off. Valkyrie glared at her before getting back up and stealing Skulduggery's hat. "Hey!" He shouted as she ran into the kitchen and out the backdoor before manipulating the air to carry her up to the roof and leaving the hat smack bang in the middle of the slate roof. She manipulated the air again to carry her down at the opposite end of the house (At the front door) and walked in seeing BabyGirl sitting in the same spot giggling wildly and Skulduggery nowhere in sight. Valkyrie was just about to sit down when a pair of bony arms wrapped them around her waist and pulled, dragging her back out of the house and spinning her so she was facing the skeleton; his arms still round her waist. Once he realised what he was doing, he lightly grabbed her forearms instead.

"Where is my hat?" He said in the velvety voice Valkyrie loved so much.

"Why, Detective Pleasant, whatever do you mean?" She said innocently.

"Well Detective Cain, considering that guilty look on your face I am certain you know where it is."

"Do you really want to know where it is, Detective?"

"Yes."

"Then follow me." With that, Valkyrie led the gullible detective back into the house and up the stairs to the broom cupboard only to shove him in there and lock it taking the key with her. She was half way down the stairs when she realised he could break down the door but it was too late. She turned at the silent grace of Skulduggerys footsteps and got a face-full of skull. She screamed in surprise and lost her balance and fell back. Too panicked to do anything, she simply fell down the stairs with her eyes squeezed shut.

She was waiting for the full impact of the floor but instead her favourite bony arms wrapped around her bridal style. She opened her eyes and smiled a very giddy smile at Skulduggery. He flew into the living room, where BabyGirl was still sat watching them intently, and gently placed her onto the sofa where she promptly passed out.

"Sorry about that BabyGirl." Skulduggerys said seating himself under Valkyries sleeping head but placing a pillow on his lap so she didn't get a bruise from his bony legs.

"Don't worry. Does she do that often?" BabyGirl asked indicating the sleeping girl and the missing hat that just fell off of the roof and onto the outside windowsill due to the harsh wind.

"Oh, so that's where she put it, cheeky devil." Skulduggery murmured to himself before manipulating the air to open the window, pull the hat in, place it on the crown of his head and close the window, locking it. "To answer your question, only when I tickle her to near-death." BabyGirl heard a smile in his voice and smiled her own small smile.

"Coolio yo. When do you think she'll wake up?"

"In about ten minutes." Skulduggery guessed looking at his watch to see it was 11:17PM. "You say you only came today?" BabyGirl nodded. "Do you have anywhere to stay?" BabyGirl shook her head. "Do you want to spend the night in one of the guest rooms and when Valkyrie wakes up in about eight minutes you can borrow some of her pyjamas."

"That sounds good, thank you." Skulduggery nodded.

"No problem. In that case, would you like some tea, coffee or hot chocolate?"

"Please can I just have some water?"

"Yeah sure I'll be right back." And with that he slid out from under Valkyries head careful so he didn't wake her and went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and a cup of coffee for the girl who would soon be waking up. When he went back into the living room, he wasn't surprised to see Valkyrie sitting up and talking to BabyGirl. Neither girl had registered that he was there yet so he quietly listened in from the kitchen doorway.

"How long was I out for?" Skulduggery knew that was Valkyrie due to the great big yawn that followed suit.

"About ten minutes, wow he's good." BabyGirl murmured the last bit so Skulduggery could only just hear it and in made his fake mouth pull a big cheesy grin.

"Okay and who's good?"

"Skulduggery, he said that you would wake up in ten minutes and you did."

"I would say a compliment but that would just make his ego bigger."

"My ego is fine the way it is thank you very much." Skulduggery said walking out of the kitchen with BabyGirl's glass of water and a coffee for Valkyrie. After he handed the girls their drinks, he sat back down at the end of the sofa that Valkyrie was on.

"Whatever," Valkyrie said taking a sip after blowing the top of the hot liquid. "So, BabyGirl are you staying here tonight?"

"If that's okay with you." BabyGirl said taking a sip of water.

"Sure, I've got some pj's in my room one sec." Valkyrie put the mug of sweet coffee down on the coffee table and went upstairs and into her room where she dug out a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. She was halfway down the stair when her phone rang, the caller ID was her best friend and big sister Tanith Low. She answered it immediately.

"Hey sis." Valkyrie said.

"Hiyya girl. Can I come round? Ghastlys in a VERY boring meeting and it won't finish for another hour and 45 minutes." Tanith pleaded.

"Yeah, sure but I've got a guest so behave yourself."

"Okay, be there in about ten minutes"

"Don't forget to bring snacks and we can watch a movie."

"In that case I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"'Kay bye."

"See ya." Valkyrie hung up and carried on into the living room where she handed BabyGirl the nightwear and filled her in on the movie with a very close friend. Once BabyGirl agreed to staying, Valkyrie asked her to pick any film from the shelf. After about two minutes, BabyGirl went back to the chair she occupied and handed over 'Titanic' claiming she had never seen it before. One minute later of Valkyrie gaping at BabyGirl, Valkyrie put the DVD in the machine. It was then Tanith knocked at the door. Valkyrie let her in and BabyGirl gasped.

"What is it BabyGirl?" Valkyrie asked concern in her voice. BabyGirl pointed a finger at Tanith then Valkyrie and then Skulduggery.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Skulduggery inquired.

"You," BabyGirl gasped pointing at Tanith. "You, you, but you are, are my, foster mother." Everyone in the room except BabyGirl gasped. "That means, you two are, my, my, my parents." She said breathlessly.

"What? What do you mean 'parents'? How could we be your parents?" Valkyrie asked confused.

"My fost- I mean, you," BabyGirl pointed at Tanith again. "Said, or will say, or whatever, well I overheard you talking with Ghastly before I made the request to time-travel and meet my biological parents. You said something like 'I hate lying to her Ghastly. Her parents are our best friends. Her mother's like a sister to me and you've known her father since before the war.'" Everyone took a moment to look at each other and then back at BabyGirl.

"You mean, we're your biological parents and Tanith and Ghastly are your foster parents?" Valkyrie asked in astonishment.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

"I guess so." Was BabyGirl's reply. Everyone looked dazed when the phone rang. Valkyrie – being the owner of the house – went to answer it.

"Hello?" She said down the microphone.

"Hello? Is this Valkyrie Cain?" The person said on the other end of the line.

"Well, this is the Edgley mansion so who'd you think would pick up? Gordon?" She said and heard sniggers from the people listening in on the conversation.

"This is the Grand mage and I don't like your tone but I have come for a young lady I think you have in your possessions. Rosy-Lou Cossette Brunet. She has managed to come to your time and she is needed back in this time so she doesn't tell you anything she isn't meant to." The caller said.

"Okay where should I send her?" Valkyrie asked before a thought popped into her head. "When you say 'your time' do you mean 2043?"

"Yes."

"So how can you be talking to me from the future?"

"That is an epic discovery you'll have to discover."

"Umm... Okay. So where do you want to send her?"

"Tell her to go to where she appeared and then she will be transported back here where she will be back with her foster parents and we have a little surprise for her too."

"Okay. I'll go tell her now. Goodbye."

"G'day ta ya."

"umm..." with that Valkyrie hung up and went into the next room and came face to face with her daughter, the father to her future daughter and the Foster mother to her future daughter. All in one room. She just stared at them, tears in her eyes.

_Apart from Ghastly, All I'll ever need is in this room. To think, me and Skulduggery gave her up. _ No one heard her thoughts but skulduggery had a pretty good idea, he was thinking it too. He went up to her and pulled her into a hug, taking her hand in his and entwining their fingers. The tears spilled and she buried her head in Skulduggerys impeccable suit. When the tears subsided, Valkyrie lifted her head and went over to BabyGirl and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. When they pulled away from each other Valkyrie looked straight into her future daughter's eyes and the tears started again on both of the girls.

"You have to go back- umm... forward?" they both burst out laughing. Tanith just rolled her eyes and skulduggery tilted his head to show he was smiling. When the two girls stopped laughing, they hugged each other fiercely. "Promise me you'll look after yourself and Tanith and Ghastly."

"I promise mummy." Grins fell widely on Valkyries and BabyGirl's faces. "One last thing." She leaned into Valkyries ear and whispered something that made Valkyrie gasp then smile uncontrollably. "You can't tell anyone until I leave."

"Okay. Just out of interest, where did you appear?"

"Ghastly's shop. Why?"

"Because you have to go back there and stand in the same spot you came in to go back- forward."

"Okay."

"And one more thing?"

"Yup."

"The grand mage said that he has a surprise for you when you go back to 2043."

"Okay. I love you so much." BabyGirl said as she hugged her mother again.

"I love you too. Now go say goodbye to your father." Valkyrie grinned and reluctantly let go of BabyGirl. BabyGirl grinned back and kissed her mother on the cheek before walking over to Skulduggery.

"Hiyya daddy." She grinned before Skulduggery chuckled and swept her up in a bear hug.

"hiyya, kiddo." He said as he set her down. "I love you."

"I love you more."

"I love you most." BabyGirl stuck her tongue out but Skulduggery just laughed it off. "I guess you have to go now." BabyGirl nodded with tears in her eyes.

"I don't want to though. As much as I love Tanith and Ghastly, I love you and mum more."

"I know you do sweetie, but it's not how it works." BabyGirl nodded and kissed her father on his cheekbone before going to Tanith and grinned. She grinned back but didn't know why. She had nothing to grin about. Valkyrie picked up on this and laughed making BabyGirl laugh too, like a private joke between the two of them. Tanith looked at Skulduggery but he just shrugged. The girls calmed down and BabyGirl pulled a very surprised Tanith into a hug.

"I love you Tanith, not like a mother, more like a big sister." BabyGirl said into Taniths shoulder. Valkyrie and Tanith smiled at each other and BabyGirl broke away and placed a kiss on Taniths cheek. BabyGirl turned to Valkyrie and asked for a lift to Ghastly's shop. Valkyrie said yes of course and sneakily stole Skulduggerys car keys when she hugged him. Valkyrie led BabyGirl out of the house as innocently as she could. When they were getting settled into the Bentley, Skulduggery ran out of the house and up to the car that was speeding down the road. He mumbled something incoherent and, to his utter shame, asked Tanith for a ride on her motorbike. She said yes with a silly grin on her face and they both got on and chased after Skulduggerys car.

When the four of them arrived at Ghastly's shop they were surprised to find Ghastly there considering he was meant to be in a meeting. Everyone overlooked it when BabyGirl ran up to him and gave him a massive hug and kissed him on the cheek. She then realised that he had no idea who she was. She quickly jumped back down and back over to Valkyrie where she put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. Ghastly just stared at her.

"Hello miss, who are you?" Ghastly said politely.

"Ghastly, this is BabyGirl, our foster daughter from the future and Skul and Val's daughter from the future." Tanith said and bounded up to him. He just stared at BabyGirl, mouth in an 'o' shape. Everyone stared at him waiting for any sign that he was okay.

"Okay... hello... well do you know who this young man is? He just showed up in my living room." He said pointing to a young man of 20. He had dirty-blonde short hair and blue eyes. There was what looked like battle scars along his arms. He wore navy blue top and grass-stained jeans. He had a cocky grin when his eyes met BabyGirl's and he got up and started walking towards her. She started walking towards him and they met half-way. They entwined their fingers and he wrapped his strong arm around her waist.

"I was so worried, I thought I lost you, mum and dad weren't worried and they wouldn't tell me why." the boy whispered into BabyGirl's hair.

"Ghastly, Tanith, mum and dad, this is Sam." BabyGirl said it to everyone but looked straight at Valkyrie who had a goofy grin on her face. "Well, bye." She said as she made her way over to everyone giving them hugs and kisses. When she was finished she went back over to Sam and grabbed his hand. They were about to leave when Sam turned to BabyGirl and asked her to wait for a sec, then he went up to Valkyrie and whispered in her ear, "Do have permission to propose to your daughter?"

"As long as you promise me to take care of her." She whispered back.

"I promise, I have never loved anyone as much as I love her." He whispered before pulling back to see a smiling Valkyrie. He pulled her into a hug and whispered for the last time, "Thank you." They broke apart and saw everyone in the room – including BabyGirl – looking at them in question. They ignored them and just smiled at each other.

"Well, goodbye everyone." Sam said turning back around and bounding back to BabyGirl with a big smile on his face. Valkyrie followed him and pulled BabyGirl in for a hug one last time. "I love you and I am so proud of you." Valkyrie said before pulling back with tears in her eyes. BabyGirl just smiled and put one of her arms around Sam's waist and waved at everyone with the other. Sam winked at Valkyrie and they disappeared with a soft 'pop' just like teleporting.

When they were gone, everyone whirled on a smiling Valkyrie. No one said anything, but she knew what they were going to ask. So she just said, "Skulduggery, our daughter is getting married to Tanith and Ghastly's son." Tanith and Ghastly gasped but smiled and Skulduggery went up to Valkyrie and pulled her into a tight hug. He pulled away when an odd thought popped into his...skull, "Valkyrie, how did the Grand Mage call if he was in the future."

"Ah, a wise one once said, 'that is an epic discovery you'll have to discover'. I wonder what the surprise was- is." Valkyrie wondered out loud.

**2043:**

When BabyGirl and Sam arrived back in 2043, they were met by the Grand Mage and her foster parents. The Grande Mage was a scrawny little man with limp and lifeless brown hair and dull grey eyes. He was sat in a wheelchair. _So that's what's wrong with him. _ BabyGirl thought as she looked at a man she had never before laid her eyes upon. Beside him was Tanith and Ghastly. They looked exactly the same as they did in 2013. Together, BabyGirl and Sam, ran up to them and had a family hug. "I love you guys." BabyGirl said to the only family she had for 19 years. They stayed like that for a few minutes when the Grand Mage coughed unsubtly and made the four look at him.

"BabyGirl, would you like your surprise?" he asked patiently, BabyGirl nodded and he gestured behind him where Skulduggery and Valkyrie walked out. Valkyrie looked a few years older – 24 ish – and Skulduggery had skin, a full head of dark brown eyes and green eyes. The thing that made BabyGirl know it was him was the impeccable suit he wore with a black fedora perched on the top of his head. BabyGirl walked up to them and poked them on their cheeks, a cheeky smile played at their lips and the two adults pulled their daughter in for a hug. Tears fell down their cheeks. They were content to just stand there but Valkyrie looked up and made eye contact with Sam and saw the love in his eyes as he looked at BabyGirl and the hands that played with a little black box. Valkyrie understood and let go of BabyGirl taking Skulduggery with her and lightly pushed the confused BabyGirl over to Sam. BabyGirl stood in front of Sam and looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. She watched him get down on one knee and open the little velvet box to reveal a gleaming ring with a baby pink diamond in the shape of a love heart. More tears spilled down her face as Sam spoke.

"Rosy-Lou Cossette Brunet, I love you with all my heart, will you marry me?"

BabyGirl just stood there in shock and then realised he was waiting for an answer, she nodded and he placed the ring on her ring finger before giving her a tight hug while Tanith, Ghastly, Skulduggery, Valkyrie and even the Grand Mage were cheering.

"I love you." BabyGirl said to Sam.

"I love you too." He said back.

**A/N Sorry about the rubbish ending. I'm really bad at those and I'm sorry for the long wait. Please review any ideas. BTW the thing that BabyGirl whispered to Val at Gordon's mansion was just that she was going out with Tanith and Ghastly's son, Sam.**

**~MedolicHeart**


	6. Chapter 6

_How could he? I swear when I next see him I'm going to kill him and if he thinks the fact that he's already dead will stop me, he's got another thing coming._

_I just can't believe Skulduggery Pleasant is making me, Valkyrie Cain, go to school. We are the detective duo, why do I need to go to school? _

"Because you need to learn things as well as hitting people." Skulduggery said from the driving seat of the glamorous Bentley. "And besides, we don't have any cases anyway so it will be good for you to go to school."

"Why can't the reflection go?" Valkyrie whined.

"Because it's bad for you to use your reflection too much."

"But I've been using it for the past two years."

"And see where that got you, it has constant blackouts."

"That's only because you shot it."

"Would you rather have me shoot you?"

"No..."

"Very well then, oh look we're here"

"Grrr... I am so gunna get you back for this!" And with that Valkyrie exited the car and made her way into Haggard Elementary school. She could hear the purr of the engine fade off down the road.

She didn't walk two steps through the door when her- the reflections best friend walked up to her.

"Hey Stephanie." She said in an awfully cheery tone. Valkyrie quickly searched through the reflections memory to see who this girl was and suddenly a name popped into her head.

"Hiyya Jenny." Valkyrie replied.

"Guess what?" Jenny said as she started to steer Valkyrie towards their form room and over to their seats. It was creepy, everyone was staring at her.

"What?" Valkyrie said as she sat down.

"Dave and Alexa broke up." Dave or David and Alexa were the most popular couple in the school.

"What!?" Valkyrie screeched glad that they were the only ones in the room.

"Yup. Last night."

"How do you know this?"

"Well basically, I was at the park yesterday with my little sister and I overheard them arguing."

"What were they arguing about?"

There was a pause.

"Jenny, he's like a brother to me we are that close, tell me."

"You."

"What?"

"God, you really love that word don't you? Anyway, it's the talk of the school, that's why everyone was staring at you in the hallway. Anywho, Alexa was like 'You so fancy her' and Dave was like 'No, she's like a sister to me.' and then she was like 'Why do you like her and not me? I'm much more pretty' and he was like 'you may be pretty but you're not a good person like she is, and don't think I don't know about you and Todd' because she and him were going out with each other behind Dave's back."

"That's dread, what happened next?"

"We broke up and now I'm thirsty for revenge." said a confidant girl voice from behind them. Valkyrie and Jenny spun round to see Alexa standing at the doorway flanked by her two follow-me friends, Kaylee and Terah, Alexa stalked up to them and was about to slap Valkyrie when a Velvety voice floated through the doorway, the velvety voice that belongs to none other than Skulduggery Pleasant.

"Don't you _dare_ touch her." Skulduggery said threateningly. Everyone in the room turned to look at the man – yes man – at the front of the class at the teacher's desk.

"Says who?" Alexa said staring the man down. He had dazzling blue eyes and floppy brown hair. Instead of a slim bony body underneath the suit, there was a full muscled body there instead.

"Says your new form tutor and history teacher." Skulduggery said. Behind Alexa, Valkyries eyes bugged out of her head.

"What's your name then sir?" Valkyries said with a small smirk which made Skulduggery glare at her. Everyone saw this and turned to look at Valkyrie so she put on an innocent look.

"My name, young lady, is Mr Pleasant."

"What kind of name is that and where is Mr Brown?" Skulduggery rolled his eyes but then turned serious.

"Mr Brown is missing." Everyone gasped. "I am not meant to tell you this and I expect this piece of news to stay in this classroom but I think your all old and mature enough-"half the class snorted and laughed while the other half just smiled at him. "to handle this, or so I hope. Before I tell you what happened, please can you all sit down." Everyone complied. "Mr Brown was last seen talking to a very nasty looking man with a Texan accent and some sunglasses so if you see this man then please feel free to run away screaming." Everyone laughed while Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery in worry.

Mr Pleasant started to answer questions about himself (obviously he made up the answers) so Valkyrie tuned out. She was staring out the window when her name was called out in the register.

"Stephanie? Stephanie are you present?" Valkyrie continued to ignore him but felt someone's foot collide with hers. Jenny. Valkyrie looked at her then at her friend line of sight to see Skulduggery staring at her waiting for a response.

"Oh, sorry, yes sir." Valkyrie mumbled loud enough so he could hear her from the edge of the room.

"Okay so that's everyone here today, Splendid." Skulduggery said from the front. "Well the bell is about to go so pack up your things. Oh and Alexa and Stephanie can I see you at the end please?" Everyone 'ooh!' –d. Skulduggery was about to shut them all up but the bell went and they all ran out, all except Valkyrie and Alexa.

They both walked to the front, Valkyrie had a massive grin on her face and Alexa's face looked calm but inside she was raging. _How dare she get me in trouble!? She's the one that messed everything up in the first place! _Alexa thought. She looked at Valkyrie and saw the big grin. This made her calm face slip into an angry expression.

"Why are you so giddy?" Alexa seethed. Valkyrie just ignored her and stood at the front of the classroom looking straight into Skulduggerys eyes, a goofy grin still on her face. Alexa ignored her back and carried on to the front of the classroom.

"What's up, sir?" Alexa asked bored.

"The sky, now, why were you about to slap Stephanie here when my amazingness saved the day in the nick of time?" Valkyrie rolled her eyes at his big-headedness.

"None of you beeswax, Mr Pleasant, its personal. Can I go now? Or your gunna make me be late for Art."

"Yeah sure. I just need to talk with Stephanie." With that Alexa left the detective duo to them. Once the door closed, Valkyrie did the thing that Skulduggery least expected her to do. She hugged him.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"Two things, one is I just wanted to see if your body was real. It is. Second is THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

"Why are you thanking me and thank China for this full-body facade. It last for 24 hours and needs a 2 hour recharge and it changes between two bodies now, this one and another on that you will see later."

"Cool and because I was sooooooooooooo bored!"

"Ah, well we actually have a case and it will be presented in history at the end of the day."

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"Because it won't make sense now, it will however make sense in history."

"Fine." Valkyrie said defeated.

"I'll see you in history, bye Val!" She was about to walk out of the classroom when Skulduggery stood in front of her.

"What is it now?" She said.

"You need a note."

"Oh yeah." Skulduggery scrawled on a piece of paper:

_Sorry Stephanie is late for-_

"What lesson do you have next?"

"Art."

_-Art, She was just helping me with something._

_Mr ._

He gave her the letter and lightly pushed her towards the door.

"Bye Skul."

"Bye Val." With that, Valkyrie walked out of the classroom and into the deserted hallway to Art. Once she gave the note to the teacher, Ms Hopkins, she took her seat next to Jenny and asked her what they were doing.

"We're doing self portraits. What did Mr Pleasant want?" Jenny asked. Valkyrie used the mirror set out next to her and drew the outline of her face.

"Thanks and he just wanted to know why Alexa was about to slap my face." Valkyrie added her eyes and nose to her drawing.

"What did you tell him?" Jenny asked getting on with her own drawing.

"I just said that it was personal and if Alexa doesn't want him to know then I won't tell him." Valkyrie said as she added lips to her drawing.

"Really?" Jenny said looking at Valkyrie. Her line of sight fell on her drawing and she gasped.

What? What is it?" Valkyrie said and turned at the gasp.

"It's just your drawing. It's amazing." Jenny said breathlessly. The drawing was a perfect sketch of Valkyries face with tone and everything. That's what you get when you're a detective; you have to draw everything to the very last detail and superfast.

"Thanks Jenny." Valkyrie said beaming at her best friend.

"That's okay. It's just... Wow" This just made Valkyries smile widen. The rest of the lesson went by quick. After Art, Valkyrie had English then Break. Her next lesson was PE and today they were running. She was sitting next to Jenny in the locker room when Alexa came up to her a slapped her taking her by surprise. Valkyrie automatically grabbed her by the hand and twisted so it was a position where she could break it easily.

"What was that for?" Valkyrie asked the bully.

"The slap was for stealing my boyfriend. Let me go you freak." Alexa stated simply. Valkyrie let her go and sat back down and taking one of the magical leaves for numbing pain that Kenspeckle gave her out of her bag and chewed on it.

"I didn't steal your boyfriend." Valkyrie said looking Alexa in the eye.

"Yeah right and what the flip was that leaf thingy?"

"I didn't and it's none of your business."

"Fine. But that slap wasn't the last of me." Valkyrie rolled her eye and Alexa walked out to the field and over to Coach Spencer with Valkyrie, Jenny and the rest of the girls in tow. One hour later, the girls were getting changed and the coach was reading out the scores. She was sat at the front of the changing rooms with her record sheet and a pen.

"First place in all of the races is Stephanie Edgley." All the girls -except from Alexa, Kaylee and Terah- cheered. "Second place is Jenifer Haydens." Again, all the girls -except Alexa, Kaylee and Terah- cheered. "Joined third are Alexa Hales, Kaylee Tomlinson and Terah Kingsley." This time, only some of the girls cheered and the three girls glared at those who didn't. This mainly consisted of Valkyrie, Jenny and a few other girls who didn't like them.

After all the girls were changed back into their school uniforms, it was lunchtime. Valkyrie sat with Jenny at the table in the corner. Alexa sat the other end of the room. Valkyrie was eating some chips when Dave Taylors and his closest friend Sam Roberts walked up to them with their food. The whole school new Jenny had a crush on Dave's best friend except him and everyone knew He had a crush on her except her.

"Hey Jenny." Sam said staring at her face with ebony eyes.

"Hiyya Sam." Jenny said doing the same thing but with emerald eyes. Valkyrie and Dave rolled their eyes and had to stifle a snigger.

"Hiyya Steph, can we sit with you guys?" Dave asked Valkyrie.

"Yeah sure." She said taking her bag off the seat. "Are you okay Dave?" She said indicating the break-up.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Thanks sis, I mean Steph." Valkyrie just smiled.

"It's okay, bro." This made Dave smile.

On the other side of the room, Alexa was fuming.

"What is it Alexa?" Kaylee said, completely oblivious to what was happening the other side of the room.

"Who does she think she is? She's playing with fire that Stephanie." Kaylee followed her friend's line of sight and saw why she was so upset.

"What are you going to do?" Terah said catching on.

"After school she is going to get a piece of my mind." Alexa said with a slightly psychotic grin on her face. Kaylee and Terah grinned along with her.

Valkyrie and Dave went back to eating their food and talking about nothing important, Valkyrie had a burger and chips, Dave had a large ham and pineapple pizza slice and chips. Jenny and Sam on the other hand, they had confessed their crushes on each other and were sitting holding each other's hand, talking and eating their sandwiches. The bell went for next lesson, Maths, the class consisted of: Valkyrie, Dave, Alexa, Jenny, Sam, Kaylee, Terah and some other people called: Sky, Oliver, Sophie, Imogen, Amelia, Grace, Mia, Jacob, Patrick, Jack, Lucy, Peter, Lucas and Charlotte. When the lesson on algebra had finished, Valkyrie, Dave, Jenny and Sam made their way to History with Alexa, Kaylee and Terah watching their every move.

"Are they still watching us?" Valkyrie asked Dave having to lean into him to ask because of all the noise in the corridor. This made Alexa fume even more and her face go red. Dave looked into a nearby window to see the seething reflection of Alexa. Smiling, Dave leaned back into Valkyrie making Alexa rage and storm off into the toilets with Kaylee and Terah.

"She was but now she's gone off into the bathroom with her minions." Dave whispered into Valkyries ear. They looked at each other and grinned. The four of them entered their history/form room, Sam and Jenny were holding hands and Dave had his arm on Valkyries shoulder in a brotherly fashion and sat down in their seats next to each other. Skuldu- Mr Pleasant raised a questioning brow at Valkyrie but she just shrugged. The rest of the class entered except from Alexa.

"Does anyone know when Alexa is situated?" Skulduggery asked the class. Valkyrie whipped out her phone and texted him:

_Dude, No one within this lifetime says that and who cares she a self-centred bully. Val_

Everyone in the room heard a ringtone and looked at each other to see who it was. Valkyrie just stared at Skulduggery until he got the message, when he finally did; he got out his phone and read the message. His full-blooded fingers danced across the screen as he typed his reply.

"Sorry about that, I must have forgotten to put it on silent." Skulduggery said as Valkyries phone silently vibrated. She read the message and rolled her eyes.

_So what, I'm amazing and I have to ask that, I'm meant to be a teacher. Skul_

_Well you're not doing a very good job of it if your texting during class, now get on with the lesson; I want to know what the case is. Val_

_Okay stressy. Skul_

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and put her phone away. Skulduggery smirked and put his phone away. Dave saw this and leaned in close to Valkyrie.

"Were you just texting the teacher?" He whispered softly.

"So sue me but please don't tell anyone." Valkyrie pleaded making her chocolate eyes grow to an impossible big size.

"Okay, chill, I won't tell anyone." Dave said putting his hand up in surrender.

"Thank you so much." Valkyrie gave him a bone-crushing hug. It was then Alexa chose to walk in. Her face was pure rage as she stormed up to her ex-boyfriend and now arch enemy and drew her arm back and aimed for Valkyries face but a hand on her clenched fist stopped her.

"I don't think you should punch Val-Stephanie." Skulduggery stated.

"And why not?" Alexa asked sceptically.

"Because she will punch back and I will let her." Alexa just stared at him. Behind the both of them, Valkyrie and Dave were grinning like kids at Christmas. Alexa turned back around and glowered at the both of them.

"Fine then, but I can take her." Alexa said and a grin spread like a wild fire on Valkyries face. She was about to click her fingers and create a spark, but a stern look from Skulduggery made her stop. She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm waiting, what? You didn't think I was going to throw the first punch, did you? I only do that to bad guys, not pathetic little skanks like you." Skulduggery and Dave looked at each other and smiled, the rest of the class stopped their conversations to watch what was happening. Alexa's face went even redder if that was possible and she re-drew her hand back and hesitated. "Please hurry up, I was actually looking forward to this lesson, and haven't fought someone all week so please do go on." Valkyrie taunted. Alexa's clenched fist shot forward like the speed of light but Valkyrie was there just as fast and put her in the sleepers hold like Tanith Low had shown her. She gently placed Alexa on the floor and turned back around to sit back down when she saw Dave look at her in surprise and Skulduggery look at her smugly.

"Back to the lesson," Skulduggery started "Thank you Stephanie for quieting that horrid as you put it 'skank'. Today we are going to learn about Hitler." Hands shot up but Valkyrie chose to shout out. "What does Hitler have anything to do with… what we have been learning?" She asked, nearly mentioning the case. No one caught on it though.

"Well, my dear Stephanie, Hitler has no relevance to anything you have been learning but I do indeed need to show you something that I think is of importance to some people in this class." Everyone – including Valkyrie – looked at him dumbstruck. "Well on we go." He said ignoring everyone and started presenting the case. "These photos were taken in Hitler's years. As you can see there are some people you may already have learnt about." Pictures of Hitler, Anne Frank and her family as well as Miep Gies showed up on the screen. A few pictures more pictures of people no one – not even Skulduggery – knew about, a few clips were shown taking everyone – except Skulduggery – by surprise. There were people in them. People no one in the class – except Skulduggery – expected to see. These people were: Valkyrie, Dave, Sam, Jenny, Skulduggery (As a skeleton so practically everyone gasped), Alexa, Kaylee, Terah and (Valkyrie did NOT expect this) Sanguine. Valkyrie gasped and all the people close to her looked at her. She shrugged and everyone turned back to the screen.

"Mr pleasant, where did you get these?" Valkyrie said.

"Just call me Skulduggery, and the sanctuary. If these kids-"

"Hey!" they all screamed.

"If these adolescents are involved with the case then they need to know what's happening." Skulduggery finished.

"Fi-"that was when Valkyrie fainted.

**VALKYRIE POV**

I don't know where I am. It's white. White. Everything's just plain white. Not just the colour white like paint. It's like an intense light that is so bright that it's white. The kind of white that causes a searing pain in your retina when you look at it, white. That white. I feel like… I don't know. There's no wind. I feel like I weigh nothing. There's nothing. No walls. No ceiling. No floor. It's like I'm floating. I can feel something now. Like a slight breeze. Now a wind. But not a soft wind. A harsh wind. I can feel rather than see my straight brown hair whipping around my face. I can taste metal. Blood. I feel dizzy. I can see flashbacks. Memories. Flitting in and out of my vision. Me as a baby. Toddler. Kid. Teenager. Memories of when I met skulduggery. When we defeated the bad guys together. Serpine. The faceless ones. Melancholia. Grotesquery. Tesseract. Remnants. Lord vile. Darquesse. There are memories of when I was told the news of getting a little sister. Even memories of from the reflection. All good memories. I can feel blood rushing to my ears. As if gravity has finally taken its toll. I'm falling. Looking down, I can see a long flowing dress that is making my body invisible. No. Not invisible. White. The dress is white. Everything is white. But everything is fading into black. They say that when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. Maybe that's what's happening. Maybe I'm dying. It's black. That's all I can see. Black here. Black everywhere. It's like a vacuum. There's a light. Like an old movie projection. I see bits and pieces of bad memories. Including the vision about Darquesse Cassandra Pharos had. When skulduggery got trapped in the faceless ones realm. The despair I felt for those 11 months without him. When Gordon died. When all the bad guys teamed up. When they beat me and skulduggery – mostly me – to a messy pulp. It's gone black now. But I can see something. Someone. A skeleton. a pin-striped suit. A fedora. Sunglasses. Fuzzy wig. Gloves. Scarf. Skulduggery Pleasant. He's coming closer. Skulduggery Pleasant. He's an inch away. Skulduggery Pleasant. "Someone's been a bad girl." A velvety voice is saying in my ear. There are images. Destruction. Blackness. Everything bad. Those 5 words keep going around in my head. Or maybe there being spoken aloud over and over again. It's gone black. But light at the same time. I can see a figure walking towards me. I can see more of it now. No. Not it. She. I can see more of her now. There are shadows. Lots of shadows. Writhing around her. There's something behind her. Metal. Walking metal. She is dressed head to toe in black. Black boots. Black trousers. Black top. Black jacket. Her hair is brown. Dark brown. Her eyes. They are what scare me the most. Black. Dead as the night. She looks like me. But not me. Darquesse. I am trying to speak. Trying to scream and shout. Trying to fight my way out of the shadows binding me. I can't move. The figures are an inch away. Darquesse and... Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Their names are echoing around in my head. They're driving me crazy. The shadows are too tight. I can feel my consciousness slipping away. I can hear someone shouting. Shouting my name. Valkyrie Cain. GENERAL POV "Fi-"that was when Valkyrie fainted. Skulduggery was at her side in an instant as was Dave. "Should we get her to the nurse?" Dave asked. "No. One second." With that, Skulduggery took out his phone and dialled Kenspeckle Grouse. "Hi." Skulduggery. "What is it now Pleasant?" Kenspeckle. "It's Valkyrie." "What have you done to her now detective?" "It's not my fault." "Then what's wrong with her?" "She fainted." "Is that it?" "Well I wouldn't call you unless it was an emergency." "How is this different then?" "There are shadows circling her body." "Fine I'll be there in- wait, where are you?" "Haggard Elementary School." "WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT HER SCHOOL YOU SICK FREAK!" "Teaching. After all I am her mentor." "Yeah, FOR MAGIC." "Magic, knowledge, there both the same." "Whatever. I'll be there in ten minutes." "Okay, goodbye Professor." Skulduggery hung up to find everyone looking at him. He ignored them and lifted Valkyrie and placed her gently on his desk. "Jenny, please can you go wait at reception for a grumpy old man in a lab coat. Here's a note." He said finishing off the note and gave it to her. It read: _I, Skulduggery Pleasant, give permission for Jenny Haydens to wait at reception for a grumpy old man in a lab coat._ When Jenny was gone, Skulduggery for the first time since he got the new facade, looked scared. He just stood there with his fingers entwined with Valkyries and a pained expression on his fake face. No one spoke for 10 minutes. At 2 minutes from when Jenny went, the shadows wrapped around Valkyrie changed to fire. 2 minutes after that, it changed into water. 2 minutes after that, it changed into air. And 2 minutes after that, it changed into earth. This make Skulduggery think she was going through the surge but 3 minutes later when the professor was told what happened by a very worried Dave and Skulduggery he didn't think so anymore. "It couldn't have been the surge though, surely. She hasn't moved since. No pain. No suffering." He said to Kenspeckle. "Calm down detective, I know you care for her as much as she does for you. Let me look at her." As Kenspeckle said the last word, Skulduggery made way for him to see the patient. All of the symptoms of the surge – except the pain – had stopped when Kenspeckle reached Valkyrie. She just lay unmoving. Kenspeckle felt her neck and wrists for her pulse and felt she was safe and definitely NOT dead. She looked like she was sleeping so he tried to wake her. "Valkyrie, sweetheart? Please wake up for me." He said shaking her shoulders. Instead of her waking up like he hoped, she just said two names. Lord Vile. Darquesse. "Detective, I think you should hear this." Kenspeckle said and Skulduggery joined him quickly. "Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord Vile. Darquesse. Lord-" the sleeping girl spoke angrily. "Valkyrie. Valkyrie. VALKYRIE!" Skulduggery said giving her shoulders a harsh shake. "SKULDUGGERY!" Valkyrie said as she shot up on the desk. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing hard. There was sweat dripping down her face. Skulduggery was there in an instant, taking her in his arms tightly. "Are you okay?" he asked her. "No." She replied sarcastically. Skulduggery chuckled. "Trust you to make jokes at a time like this." Kenspeckle said behind the both of them. As soon as Valkyrie heard his voice, she let go of Skulduggery and practically leapt at Kenspeckle to give him a hug. Skulduggery just laughed and the rest of the class just looked at the trio. "What the hell is going on?" Dave said confused. "Um... Skul? You wanna take this one?" Valkyrie said breaking away from Kenspeckle. "Not really." Skulduggery said at the smirking girl. "But I see I will be anyway." She just smiled. He turned back to the confuzzled class. "This is all a dream." He said whilst flailing his arms around dramatically. Everyone just stared at him. "Not working for you huh?" Everyone shook their heads. "Does anyone have any questions?" He asked the class. No one spoke for what seemed like an age. It was then, Alexa chose to sit up. Her hand instinctively went to her neck and she looked around the room warily at all the faces that turned to look at her. After all recent memories were remembered she shot up, ran to Dave (still trying to win him back) and spoke desperately, "Did- did you –s-s-see what she did you me?" pointing at an open mouthed Valkyrie who was being held back by Kenspeckle and Skulduggery for wanting to shut that hole in Alexa's pretty little face. "Not again, Val." Skulduggery whispered a little too loud. "What? What do you mean again? Detective, you know the rules of our community, she can't go round harming random people, especially people from her school." Kenspeckle said overhearing. "Even if they're bullying her?" "If ANYONE bullies Val, then I will personally deal with them." Skulduggery just stared at him with a surprised expression as did Valkyrie except with a small smile playing at her lips. "Valkyrie," Kenspeckle said to her, "If _anyone _bullies you, you come to me, understand?" she nodded, "You are the closest thing I've had to a daughter, I've seen you at your worst and I want to protect you as much as I can, okay?" She nodded again and gave him a bone-crushing hug. "So you do have a happy side." Skulduggery joked, causing a kick in the place-where-the-sun-don't-shine by one Valkyrie Cain. Skulduggery doubled over in shock mostly and the look on his face was priceless. This made Kenspeckle grin madly and Valkyrie beam. The three heard chuckles around the room. Once Skulduggery recovered, he turned back to the class and said, "Will Valkyrie, Dave, Sam, Jenny, Alexa, Kaylee, Terah stay here while the rest of you go...wonder the halls?" the class looked at each other and shrugged before grabbing their bags and exiting the classroom. Dave tried to shake Alexa off (literally) but it didn't work so instead he walked over to Jenny and Sam, knowing Alexa's disgust for Jenny. Alexa went back to Kaylee and Terah. They all turned to look at the trio at the front of the classroom. "I'll go and call Geoffrey "Kenspeckle said already pulling out his phone and dialling the number and Valkyrie watched him go. Skulduggery wondered over to the whiteboard and started to clean it. "Trust you to ditch responsibility." Valkyrie said. Skulduggery whipped his head round to look at his teenage apprentice. "Since when did you learn words like that?" he asked her. "Like what?" "Like 'responsibility." "Since the 'Ever-amazing-fabulous-egotistical-skeleton-detect ive' made me go to school." She shot back. "Fair point. I'll just go and round up the other kids." Skulduggery said slowly making his way to the classroom door. Valkyrie saw what he was doing and rolled her eyes, pushing a gust of wind in his direction making him speed up and everyone in the class gasp. Once Skulduggery left the classroom, Valkyrie turned back to everyone to see Dave looking at her expectantly. "You guys have any questions?" She asked everyone but aiming it at Dave. He nodded and watched Valkyrie pull out a sphere-shaped lump of wood with a jagged slit driving through the middle. He raised a questioning eyebrow, but said nothing as she walked up to him and pulled him to the other end of the classroom, when they were at a safe distance from the rest of the group, she turned to look at them. "Me and Dave will be back in a minute, please guys, just stay where you are. This could be dangerous." Everyone just stared at her like she was going off her marbles. She shrugged and turned the sphere of wood, cloaking them in an invisible sphere making them mute and well... invisible to the people around them. Dave just stared at her blankly thinking the only thing she did was twist a lump of wood. He opened his mouth to speak when a shrill scream came from Alexa. He turned to her to see she was making her way to the door when Jenny's hand went to her shoulder. She spun on her heel to glare at her. "What do you want?" Alexa rudely asked Jenny. "You heard Steph, we have to stay put." Jenny said defensively. "Since when would I listen to her? She stole my boyfriend. Literally." "Since she said whatever it was she did could be dangerous." Alexa gave up and went back to stand next to her follow me friends. Dave turned back to Valkyrie. "What did you do? Why can't they see us and judging by their blank faces, why can't they hear us?" He asked her in a rush. "This little bad boy," she said lifting the cloaking sphere "is a cloaking sphere. Anyone and/or anything within the cloaking bubble are muted and unseen. Any more questions? I'm guessing you have a few." Dave just nodded, staring at her in awe. Instead of screaming things like betrayal like she thought he would, he just pulled her into his arms and hugged her fiercely. When they pulled apart they looked at each other and smiled. They hugged again but softer. "What's with the hugs?" Valkyrie asked as she slowly pulled away from Dave. "I just thought that you and the teacher were going out so I'm glad that you only friends." Dave replied. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew. Wait, what's wrong with Skulduggery?" she asked blushing a tad. "He's well old." "You have no idea." Dave just looked at her funny. "Anyway, do you have any questions, Dave?" "I'm sure they're the same as the ones the others have." "okie-dokie" with that, Valkyrie turned the cloaking sphere so they were visible to everyone else in the room. No one said anything and then the questions came in clumps of noise. 20 minutes later of explaining true names and the magical world in general, Jenny asked Valkyrie and question that had been going round in her head for a while, "Val, where's Skulduggery?" Valkyrie put a finger to her lips and gracefully sneaked over to the door, yanking it open and making Skulduggery fall onto the floor. This made the whole group laugh. Valkyrie helped Skulduggery up and looked at him knowingly. "I knew you were there the whole time you know." She said as Skulduggery was brushing himself down getting rid of all the dirt on his impeccable suit. "Yes, yes, you're a detective, I know, but were it necessary for me to fall on the floor in pain? These human bodies are so fragile. Why couldn't you just call my name?" Skulduggery said giving Valkyrie a stern look. She just smiled and said smugly, "Because that was more fun." He rolled his eyes and turned to everyone to find them all staring at him in awe. From the other side of the door, he could only hear tidbits of information so he didn't hear what Valkyrie had said about him. He turned back around to look at Valkyrie, he was about to ask what she had said when a low rumbling came from behind her and she put her finger to her lips indicating for everyone to be quiet. By the time they all nodded, Billy-Ray Sanguine had fully entered the classroom carrying an unconscious woman in his hands. Valkyrie whirled and clicked her fingers summoning a spark and threatening him with it but he just looked bored. "Han' on lil' darlin' can we do this some other time, I kinda 'ave my hands full, it wouldn't be a fair fight now would it? besides lil' darlin', you're at school with no protective clothing and no funny-bones." He said in his Texan drawl. In return Valkyrie let the flame in her hand disappear and shrugged her shoulders. She turned back around to Skulduggery and asked in the sweetest voice she could muster, "Skul, you know how much you love me?" Sanguine grunted and Skulduggery rolled his eyes with a very small smile playing at his lips, in the bottom draw on the left hand side of the desk." She ran up to him and flung her hand round his neck, giving him a tight hug. "Thank you." She whispered in his ear and broke away to make her way to the draws and promptly pulled out her black clothes. She could live in these if she was allowed, but she wasn't. The clothes hold so many memories for her, memories that replayed in her head over and over again. Soon they had become overwhelming and she felt light-headed, she tried looking at Skulduggery, Dave or Jenny, but they were all spinning around. One of her legs buckled and she started falling but she placed her hands on the desk, knocking a pencil pot off and catching everyone's attention. Skulduggery was with her in an instant, she was getting droopy and tired, and about to close her eyes but a very worried voice stopped her. Worried and velvety. "Valkyrie, please don't go, until the end remember? Don't leave me, not just yet." He whispered in her ear whilst smoothing her hair away from her face and cradling her on the floor. He looked up at the rest of the class and Sanguine, no one had heard what he had whispered to her but they still looked at him weirdly, smugly maybe? Skulduggery looked at Jenny. "Jenny, please can you go get the grumpy old man in the lab coat please?" she nodded and ran out of the door after Kenspeckle. When she found him, he was with a man tall, dark, handsome, laughing. She ignored him, Valkyries life was on the line here, and she wasn't going to help her by dillydallying. She ran up to the grumpy man in the lab coat with a worried look on her face. "What's wrong, child?" Kenspeckle asked. "It's Valkyrie, she's about to faint again." Jenny answered. Kenspeckle made his way to the classroom with Jenny and Geoffrey in tow. Kenspeckle practically ran over to Valkyrie, who was placed on the desk again with Skulduggery's blazer folded neatly underneath her head. "What happened?" Kenspeckle asked a very concerned Skulduggery. "She knocked a pencil pot over, I turned to look at her and she was on her knees. Kenspeckle, I would never admit to this if it were anyone else, Ghastly can handle anything, hey he turned into stone for two years and Tanith is, well, she's Tanith, but I am truly scared for Valkyrie. Do you even know what's happening?" Skulduggery said in confidence (whisper). Kenspeckle shook his head and held Valkyries hand and did Skulduggery (but the other hand, that would just be weird if they were both holding the same hand). Geoffrey was stalling Sanguine so he wouldn't kill any of the kids. VALKYRIES POV Not this again. I'm like I was before. With shadows wrapped around me. Squeezing me to death. Darquesse and Lord Vile are in front of me. I'm still trying to break free. I need help. I can make out a shape behind the evil duo. I can see legs. I can see a torso. I can see arms. I can see a skull. The skull that I love so much. Skulduggery Pleasant. I haven't realised that until now. I love Skulduggery Pleasant. Skulduggery Pleasant. Skulduggery. Pleasant. Darquesse and Lord Vile are gone now. I didn't see what happened. I was too preoccupied with my own thoughts. "These are your thoughts." Said an oh so velvety voice. Skulduggery Pleasant. He stayed. The shadows are gone. I can move. I can speak. "What do you mean?" I asked him. "This is your mind. Your subconscious. Whatever you think of becomes a reality. You thought of me and here I am. Darquesse and Lord Vile have been on your mind a lot lately." "I'm just worried." "Well tell me or the real Skulduggery." "I can't." "Why not? I-He'll understand." "No he won't. He'll hate me." "That's not true." "Yes it is." "Why?" "Because if I tell him I've been thinking of them then he'll ask why and then I'll have to tell him I love him and that's just something I cannot do." "Why not?" "Because I don't want to ruin our friendship." "What if he loves you too?" "He won't. He still sees me as the annoying twelve year old girl he saved at Gordon's." "I'm sure that's not true." "Then why did he send me to school?" "Because he cares a great deal about you." "Whatever. Just by chance, do you happen to know why I keep on fainting? Before I could hear Kenspeckle and Skulduggery talking about a surge but I didn't feel any pain so it couldn't have been could it?" "No it's not the surge, it's just your body preparing for when you time travel again." "Then how come no one else is fainting, how come it's just me?" "Because you're magical and no one else is." "What about Skulduggery and Sanguine?" "Skulduggery is a skeleton, he has no organs to prepare and Sanguine is god only knows how old, I'm sure he's already prepared many years ago." "Fair enough." "You're about to wake up again, you may faint again and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it." I nodded and flung my arms around Skulduggery's neck. I broke away and looked him in the eye socket. "Will you be here when I get back?" "This is your mind, I can be whoever or wherever you want me to be. I could be Tanith. I could even be Ghastly. Your mind. Your choice." I nodded and shot up in reality. GENERAL POV Valkyrie hadn't moved for 10 minutes. The only movement she had made was the heaving of her chest and a small smile on her lips. Suddenly she shot up, trembling the two men holding her hand. "Are you okay?" Skulduggery said, stroking her hair. She looked from him to Kenspeckle and nodded. "It was weird, but I know why I keep on fainting." She said to them. "Why?" Kenspeckle asked, still holding her hand. "Because apparently, my body is preparing for when I time travel again." She said smugly. "And how do you know this, little miss?" Skulduggery asked her. "My brilliant subconscious." Skulduggery rolled his eyes and Valkyrie laughed a light laugh. Valkyrie looked over at Dave and her friends to see they were talking with Geoffrey Scrutinous. She got up off of the desk and walked over to Geoffrey. "Hey Geoffrey." She said politely. He turned to her with a wicked grin on his face, said, "Payback." And started tickling her like mad. She was on the verge of tears and too distracted to control her magic. Everyone in the room, even Sanguine, were in hysterics when the bell rang for form. Everyone stayed put but Geoffrey had stopped tickling Valkyrie and she was getting her breath back. "Payback for what?" she asked breathlessly. He tapped his nose in secrecy. She just rolled her eyes. He ruffled her hair and said, "Hiyya kiddo." She grinned goofily at him and hugged him lightly. "It's good to see you again, it's been ages." She said. "It has at that." He said back. Skulduggery cleared his throat and all the attention went back to him. "This is meant to be form time so the other kids will be chewing through the rope by now-"Skulduggery started. "YOU TIED THEM UP WITH ROPE?!" everyone, except from Sanguine, shouted at him. The smile he smiled was slightly psychotic and he started to laugh like an evil mastermind. "HA! You actually fell for that? Who do you think I am?" him and Valkyrie had a conversation with their eyes, _You're Lord Vile that's who. –_Valkyrie _Your just jealous at my amazingness –_Skulduggery _Whatever, at least when I turn into Darquesse, I don't go round in a clump of metal.-_Valkyrie _Yeah, well, at least, when I'm Lord Vile, I don't kill my family._ – Skulduggery Valkyries face went in to shock then hurt and she stormed out of the door with tears in her eyes. On her way out, she managed to grab the cloaking sphere from the floor. Skulduggery went to go to her but was pulled back by Kenspeckle, who was the only one that saw their eye fight. "Give her some space." Kenspeckle whispered softly into his ear. Dave didn't hear and ran out of the door to find Valkyrie, ignoring the calls of his name. When he exited the classroom, the first thing he did was think like Valkyrie. _Okay, I am the magnificent, Valkyrie Cain, where would I go? _And then it came to him. He ran to the front of the school and out of the doors to see the god-killer, sitting on a fallen log crying in the rain. She was still in her school uniform so she felt the pain pelting on her and was too upset to manipulate it. Dave made his way over to her and sat next to her on the log. "Hey kiddo, what's up?" he asked her gently. She didn't say anything, instead she just hugged him. He returned the hug by wrapping his arms tightly around her and pulling her impossibly close to him. "Dave, please help me. I truly don't know what to do. My sister like friend has been possessed, the person that she was supposed to be dating is depressed, and now I have just figured out I have feelings for my closest friend in the magical community and also you, Jenny, Sam, Alexa, Kaylee and Terah are going to time-travel into Hitler's ages with none other than the man that has tried to killed me on multiple accounts. The only person that will be left alone in them times is Alexa and she won't be able to survive on her own. Dave, I am really scared." Valkyrie explained in his ear worriedly. (A/N BTW Tanith is not with Billy-Ray Sanguine anymore, I don't know why, I just made it like that so it fits with the storyline better.) "Don't worry, we'll all get through this together, even Alexa, she's a tough cookie and you, your Valkyrie bleeding Cain god-killer and you're _scared_? Not even Stephanie Edgley was scared. I've known you from practically birth. We grew up together, we're like siblings we are that close. I'm sure I can't match up to the possessed friend you were talking 'bout, or the depressed friend you were talking about, hell I can't even match up to Skulduggery. But I will always be here when you need her. You know he loves you too, right?" Valkyrie looked up at this. "Really?" "Yup. He never left you when you fainted, both times, and I have seen the way he looks at you. He loves you and all of us had figured that by the time you first woke up." He explained with a soft smile. They hugged again and stood up, entering the school. They were both shivering by the time they entered the classroom, so Valkyrie manipulated the elements so they were dry from head to toe. Dave smiled at her in thanks and she nodded. She was still a bit depressed so she went up to Sanguine and could feel all eyes on her (including Sanguine's eye sockets). She ignored the yelp of surprise coming from Sanguine and kicked him in the-place-where-the-sun-don't-shine. Once sanguine composed himself, as much as one shackled to a door could, he looked at the smirking Valkyrie and yelled, "WHAT THE BLEEDIN' HECK WAS THAT FOR?!" she looked at him and counted off of her fingers, "Previously trying to kill me and Skulduggery, previously trying to unleash gods that will destroy the world, previously trying to kill me and Skulduggery, Previously ganging up on us with your daddy and some other bad guys and, oh yeah, TRYING TO KILL ME AND SKULDUGGERY!" he winced at the loudness of her and shrugged his shoulders. "So, just an average day detectin' then?" she rolled her eyes then became serious, "So why are you actually here then? If you're not here to kill us?" the bell for the end of the day rang but everyone stayed put. "And what's with the unconscious lady?" she said pointing to the lady laid out on two desks joined together. "First, your lookin' real pale, you wanna sit down?" she shook her head and ignored him. From behind them, Kenspeckle spoke up, "Sweetie, you are looking pretty pale, where's your bag?" she went to her desk and pulled out her bag. She handed it to Kenspeckle for him to pull out a bottle of water and handed it to her. She took a sip, then a gulp and looked at him to see spots and what looked like Kenspeckle was jumping up and down. "Guys, I don't feel so good." She whispered and distinctly saw Skulduggery slide over tables and Kenspeckle hold his arms out. Then everything went black. VALKYRIE POV Not again. I'm alone. And it's dark. That's all I can see. "Boo!" A woman's voice whispered softly in my ear. Tanith. I whirled round and found a leather-clad blonde standing before my very eyes. "Tanith?" "Hey sis." "Is that really you?" "Well duh, this is your mind and you have been thinking a lot of the real Tanith so here I am." I wrapped my arms around her waist and hugged her tightly. "I've missed you so much." We stayed like that for ages until I finally broke apart. "will I faint again?" "Nope." "Okay, do you know when I'll wake up?" "In a minute." "Tanith, I love you, you're like a sister to me and you always will be." We hugged again and I felt myself waking up. GENERAL POV Valkyrie woke up for the third and last time. When she did however, she was met with bony hands in hers and a skeleton in a pinstriped suit standing next to her, watching her. "You know, Skul, when you do that-" "Do what?" he said somewhat amused. "Stand next to me when I wake up, inside," she continued pointing to her heart. "YOU SCARE ME HALF TO DEATH!" she yelled and managed to shake everyone in the room except him. A smile plastered itself on her face and she hugged him, she was in a hugging mood today. "That's my stalker skeleton." she heard him chuckle and return the hug. "Are you okay now? No more fainting episodes?" she shook her head. He pulled her back in for a hug and whispered softly in her ear, "I love you." She smiled and did the same in his lack of ear. A/N PLZ REVIEW. ALSO PLZ SEND IN SOME IDEAS. SORRY KENSPECKLE WAS OOC, I REALLY CANT DO HIM. ~MedolicHeart 


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N PLEASE CAN YOU SEND ME IN IDEAS. I HAVE REALLY BAD WRITERS BLOCK!**

**I HAVE BEEN WRITING THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER ALOT AND SO IT IS REALLY LONG, YET IT STILL REMAINS UNCOMPLETE. I AM ALSO WRITING ANOTHER ONE BUT I DON'T KNOW WHEN IT WILL BE UP.**

**PPPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAA AAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEE HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!**

**~MedolicHeart**


	8. Chapter 8

Skulduggery walked up and was about to knock on the door of the house of a good friends when the door opened making his hand slip and knock on Gordon Edgley's head. This made the little girl behind him laugh.  
"Ow." Was all Gordon said and turned to look at the beautiful, smiling, Stephanie Edgley. He picked her up and carried her over to the settee, her kicking and squealing and him grinning like a maniac. Skulduggery walked in and shut the door taking off his disguise in the process. He looked back at his friend, his eye sockets skimmed over the 3-yr-old being tickled to death by her uncle. _She is SO adorable._ Skulduggery thought as Gordon stopped tickling Stephanie and hugged her instead. Gordon stood up, with a still giggling Stephanie in his arms, walked up to Skulduggery and placed Stephanie, who was staring in awe at the skeleton-ness of skulduggery, in his arms.  
"I need to go out and research things for my new book; please can you look after Steph for me?" Gordon asked smirking at Stephanie, who was poking Skulduggery on the cheekbone. Skulduggery automatically held Stephanie away from him and plopped her on the ground. Stephanie pouted and put on a puppy face. The two men looked at her and Gordon crouched behind her and looked up at Skulduggery.  
"Look at that Skulduggery, that is the most adorable toddler in the entire universe and you're just going to leave her on the floor while I'm out? I thought you love kids."  
"Hey! Imma not a kid, imma big girl." Stephanie said from the floor. The two men nodded and carried on their conversation.  
"I do. I'm just out of practice I guess."  
"You'll be fine, but I really have to go if I want to catch this guy."  
"What guy?"  
"Well, not guy, girl."  
"What girl?"  
"Mandy Firefox."  
"Isn't she that time traveller?"  
"Yes and I may be bringing her back here because she is a rare time traveller."  
"Oh, right, because she's an elemental as well." Gordon nodded and stood up.  
"Yes and that is why I need her for research."  
"What are you going to do? Ask her how she became both?" Skulduggery said sarcastically so when Gordon looked down at Stephanie instead of answering, Skulduggery realised the truth. "Please don't tell me you were going to ask her how she became both."  
"Why? It's a perfectly plausible question."  
"It's a fool's work. Not even she knows how she became both."  
"Fine but she's still coming round so pleeeeeaaaaase look after Val."  
"Who's Val?"  
"Uhh... no one. I meant Steph."  
"Gordon? What aren't you telling?"  
"Nothing Skulduggery, just please look after Steph for me tonight."  
"Fine." Skulduggery surrendered. "It's only because I'm so amazing." Gordon rolled his eyes the bent down and kissed Stephanie's forehead before grabbing his coat and walking out of the door singing a goodbye to Skulduggery. A few moments after the door shut, Skulduggery turned and crouched down in front of the adorable little girl still sitting on the floor in front of him.  
"Your uncle is one bizarre man." Stephanie nodded which mad Skulduggery chuckle and Stephanie jump up and down. "He is also right. You are so adorable." Again Stephanie nodded causing him to chuckle again.  
"Hungwee." She said jumping up and down again and pointing to the kitchen. Skulduggery nodded and picked the cute three year old up. Once they were in the kitchen, Skulduggery plopped Stephanie in the counter and started rummaging through the cupboards and fridge in hope to find something.  
"What does Gordon normally give you?" he asked Stephanie.  
"Yummy sweets." Stephanie answered.  
"Not helpful." He muttered under his breath. "But it is the only thing here and as Gordon's phone is here I can't call him. Gordon you really are a lummox." He said to himself. He turned to find Stephanie giggling at something behind him. He turned to find the sweet jar floating. He turned to look back at Stephanie and he realised she was her using magic. He turned back to the sweet jar and grabbed it then turned back around to the still giggling Stephanie. "Is giggling all you can do?" she shook her head. "What else can you do then?" she grabbed onto his sleeve and pulled until he was standing directly in front of him. "Is that it? Anyone can do that." She rolled her eyes. _For a three-yr-old, she sure is smart._ He was so deep in thought he didn't notice small baby fingers poking in his eye sockets and the insane laughing coming from Stephanie on the counter. Glad no one was around to witness his humiliation at having a three-yr-olds hand poking the insides of his skull; he pulled out a sweet from the jar and gave it to Stephanie. She just stared at it. "What is it now?" he asked.  
"You expect me to open this with these minuscule hands."  
"I thought you were a big girl and where did you learn them words?"  
"Dude, who am I kidding, I'm three for god sake and duh I have a writer for an uncle. Did you know he says the words out loud when he writes and the amount of times he re-reads the stories, out loud, sheesh, I could probably recite the whole thing backwards." Skulduggery just stared at her Dumb-struck. Stephanie had to poke his skull again to get him back to earth. She handed him the sweet for him to unwrap and he handed it back to her and picked her up taking her into the living room where he set her on the sofa so she could finish the sweet. Once she swallowed she turned to the skeleton sitting next to her and asked urgently, "did you put the sweet jar back?"  
"Yup." He said popping the 'p'.  
"okay." She said snuggling into Skulduggery's bony frame and was about to drift off to sleep when the door slammed shut, making Stephanie nearly jump out of her skin as she didn't even hear it open. She stood up on the sofa, holding onto the back of it all the while, and scolded her uncle.  
"Uncle Gordon, how dare you make me nearly jump out of my skin like that."  
"I'm sorry your highness, I shall never even think about doing that again." He replied bowing and then walking over to her and kissing her forehead. She giggled but sat back down and snuggled back up to Skulduggery, it was then she noticed the woman with him. She had natural brown curls all the way down to the small of her back and violet eyes. She was beautiful. "Gordon, who is she?"  
"This, my dear, is Mandy Firefox, time traveller and elemental."  
"She's very pretty."  
"Why thank you, Child." Mandy said.  
"It's okay." Stephanie beamed and turned back to Gordon. "Guess what I did Uncle Gordon!"  
"I don't know what did you do?" Gordon looked at her with curiosity on his face.  
"I made the sweet jar float!"  
"Really?"  
"Yup." She beamed again but at him.  
"Well done, sweetie." He ruffled her lush brown hair and sat down on his favourite armchair facing the rest of the room and all its occupants. Mandy sat on another armchair opposite the other three.  
"Awkward!" Stephanie yelled making the three adults laugh.  
"Skulduggery, please can you tickle her for me. I would but i'm too lazy and she trusts you so she won't expect it." Gordon whispered sneakily. Not noticing the whispers, Stephanie was closing her eyes to go to sleep when she felt a feathery touch of gloved leathery hands tickle her sensitive skin. She started to giggle wildly along with everyone else in the room.  
"Stop - giggle, giggle - plea-giggle please Skul-giggle" Skulduggery stopped but was still laughing along with everyone when the sound of a door knocking rang loudly through the mansion. Everyone turned to Gordon wiping tears from their eyes - except Skulduggery who had no eyes - and Mandy asked the question everyone was thinking, "Where you expecting somebody?" Gordon shook his head but said nothing and got up making his way over to the door. When he reached the door he opened it a crack to find Melissa and Desmond Edgley standing there waiting expectantly for their daughter. Gordon opened the door fully and motioned them to come in to collect Stephanie. "Hello DESMOND AND MELISSA EDGLEY!" He yelled so he could give Skulduggery a fair warning. Being a skeleton after all. The three of them made their way into the room in which Skulduggery was in his full disguise (because Mandy had been to the future and seen what would happen so she would know she was safe and wouldn't get kidnapped. Again. Because you never know what people are like. So she got Skulduggery's disguise so he wouldn't blow cover as a skeleton.)  
Melissa and Desmond said nothing except stared. "Mummy, Daddy it's rude to stare."  
"It's fine Steph, I'm used to it." Skulduggery said in his velvety voice, letting the little girl give him a proper bone crushing hug. "Bye Steph."  
"Bye Skulduggery. Bye Mandy. By Gordon!" She said waving at the other two.  
"How come Skulduggery got a hug and I didn't?" Gordon whined. Stephanie ran over to him and pulled on his hand until he was crouching in front of her. She leant forward and whispered something in his ear. Gordon laughed and she giggled.  
"Well, bye Gordon." Melissa said noticing Desmond give the beautiful Mandy the oogles. When they left, Skulduggery turned to Gordon taking off his disguise.  
"What did she say?" Skulduggery asked in question. Gordon raised his eyebrow but answered, "She said and i quote 'I like him, he's funny and i was just humouring his giant ego.'" Mandy giggled and Skulduggery along with Gordon were chuckling. Outside the house Melissa and Desmond both thought, 'Gordon has the weirdest friends.' From then on though Stephanie never practiced magic again, until she next saw Skulduggery.


	9. Chapter 9

Valkyrie was sitting in China's library when she heard voices from the big comfy armchair she was sitting on coming from the next row of books over.  
"I think we should tell her, China, she's the right age."  
"No, things have to happen accordingly, Skulduggery, you should know that." Valkyrie picked up another historical book so that if they saw her, they would at least think she was reading. She turned to a random page and screamed at what she saw. There she saw a picture of her in a slave's dress from 1627. She was standing next to a man with elegant features, brown straggly hair and brown eyes, wearing slave clothes and a genuine smile. His head was tilted slightly to the right in amusement.  
Skulduggery ran over to Valkyrie in worry, China in tow.  
"Val, what's wrong?" Skulduggery asked summoning a flame in his hand oblivious to the picture in the book on the floor. Valkyrie turned to Skulduggery and then the book. She bent down and picked it up, shoving it in Skulduggery's ... skull.  
"That's you, isn't it?" She asked him.  
"What makes you say that?" Skulduggery tilted his head in question.  
"The high cheekbones and look your head is tilted slightly to the right which means you are genuinely smiling or laughing and none of the other slaves-" she stopped and felt herself blush.  
"None of the other slaves..." Skulduggery prompted.  
"None of the other slaves apart from me of course have amazing clothes."  
Skulduggery didn't speak which meant he wants the rest of what she was going to say.  
"Fine, none if the other slaves look as...good." She felt herself go beetroot red. Skulduggery tilted his head to the right in amusement at the sight of a blushing Valkyrie. He pulled her into a hug and whispered, "Cheers, Val." He then realised that hugging was such a un-Skulduggery thing to do so he broke away to find both China and Valkyrie staring at him with what Skulduggery thought was weird expressions. China's was, he thinks, jealousy and Valkyrie was, he thinks, longing. _Girls are weird. _ Skulduggery decided.  
"Anyway, well done Val that is me in that picture."  
"So WHAT AM I DOING THERE SKULDUGGERY?" Val said, all longing on her face had disappeared.  
"Umm... China?" Skulduggery answered turning his skull to face the woman of beauty. The woman that can make anyone fall to their knees. Anyone except Skulduggery. She loves him for that.  
"Time travel." Was all she said and she turned and walked back to her desk.  
"Well that was unexpected I must say." Skulduggery said to Valkyrie.  
"Why? You do know she fancies you, right? Please tell me you knew that!" Valkyrie screeched.  
"Well that was unexpected I must say." Skulduggery repeated. Valkyrie threw her hands up in frustration and threw the book at him then pulled out her phone. Skulduggery could hear someone at the other end.  
"China's library...please...she would help you...okay no she wouldn't...just, please come...for me...great thanks...bye love you too Tan"  
"Oh, to all joy on earth, Tanith is coming over."  
"Yes and I can guarantee you will get an ear hole ache."  
"Ear hole ache?"  
"Yup." Val yawned and stretched out on a sofa in China's library.  
"Okay then?"  
"Wake me up when Tanith gets here."  
"Yes m'lady." He mocked whilst bowing. Once he composed himself, he, then realised Valkyrie had taken the last seat in the library. He was about to asked her politely to move up, but when he saw how calm she looked, well he just couldn't, not after all the nightmares she's been getting lately. Instead he carefully lifted her legs and slid under them so he was sitting with her legs on his lap. He watched her serene face until he fell into his meditation state.  
It was about fifty nine minutes later when Skulduggery felt a harsh tap on his head making his head snap up and a scream sound give out of a girls mouth. Valkyries mouth.  
"What? What's wrong?" He got a flick on the skull for that.  
"What do you think, you thick-skulled, skull-head."  
"Ouch, I think you bruised my ego."  
"Finally you picked up on something."  
"Nope, I'm just to amazing and let everything slide." This made Valkyrie face palm and Tanith, who he just realised was sitting on the ceiling, giggle. But she wasn't laughing at what Skulduggery said and Valkyries face palm. No, she was laughing at something completely different. Both Skulduggery and Valkyrie noticed this and looked at each other then up at her.  
"What?" They both said at once and looked at each other again.  
"Great minds think alike." They both said again.  
"How do you know that?" Skulduggery asked questioningly.  
"I know it from the amount of times you and Ghastly say it."  
"Yeah, I have picked that up to." Tanith chimed in. "Anyway why did you want me to come?"  
"Because, this thick-headed skull," Valkyrie started, flicking Skulduggery's head. "Upset China."  
"I didn't upset her." Skulduggery chirped.  
"Yes you did."  
"How?"  
"Because she loves you and you just flipped her off."  
"Well I didn't know she loved me so I didn't flip her off."  
"Guys..." Tanith tried.  
"Yes but, you're a detective you should have figured it out by now."  
"Guys..." Tanith tried again.  
"I thought I was a thick-headed skull"  
"Guys..."  
"It was a cover up."  
"Guys..."  
"Oh, yeah?"  
"Yeah."  
"What for?"  
"GUYS!" Tanith yelled, capturing their attention.  
"WHAT!" They yelled back. It was then, they both noticed China standing there with a woman. She had natural brown curls all the way down to the small of her back and violet eyes. She was beautiful.  
"Skulduggery, Valkyrie, this is Mandy Firefox. She is a time traveller and she has come for Valkyrie." When China said this, she sounded hollow and in despair.  
"Thank you China. We can take it from here." Skulduggery said as he watched her walk off in a strop.

"I'll go see if she's alright." Tanith offered as she jumped and flipped so she was standing on the pristine carpet next to Valkyrie. She was just about to leave when Valkyries arm shot out, "No, I think Skul should go and see if she's alright." Valkyrie said to Tanith in a commanding tone of voice.

"But I haven't done anything wrong." He whined.

"Don't you go whining at me, Skulduggery. Now go and see if she's alright." Valkyrie said pointing her finger at the way China went.

"Yes, mother." He muttered not very quietly which got a pillow thrown at his skull. Once he had turned the corner and was out of sight, Tanith and Valkyrie cracked up laughing and Mandy Firefox just stared at them for a few seconds before she cracked up laughing as well.

After a while, Tanith and Valkyrie turned to the girl and Valkyrie looked at her in wonder.

"Haven't we met before?" Valkyrie asked Mandy.

"Yes, I was there when Skulduggery was babysitting you that time. But I must say, you certainly have grown since then. Tell me, can you still make sweet jars float?"

"What are you talking about? Skulduggery didn't babysit me. The first time I met Skul I was twelve and at my uncle's funeral. And what sweet jar?"

"All in good time, Steph. All in good time." was Mandy's answer. it was then Skulduggery chose to walk back to the three girls. As soon as he turned the corner, he got bombarded by question from the troublemaker herself, Valkyrie Cain.

"Skulduggery, who is this? how does she know my given name? why did she say you babysat me as a kid? and what is she talking about "Making sweet jars float'?"

"Valkyrie, this is Mandy Firefox, time traveler and elemental. because you both met when you were three and still going by the name 'Stephanie'. because i did and that was the first time you used magic. to make a sweet jar float." Valkyrie stared at him gaping like a goldfish.

"Okay then." she said sitting down. Tanith came and sat down with her. "So why do you want me?" Valkyrie asked Mandy, taking in all of her beauty. even in jeans and a tee-shirt she could match up to China Sorrows.

"Because only you can do this." came Mandy's answer.

"What do you mean 'only you can do it'?"

"It can't be me obviously because i am just that amazing." Skulduggery said earning an eye roll from everyone in the room. "Oh," he turned to face Mandy. "Hey Mandy, how have you been by the way? it's been, what, 17 years since we last spoke."

"Skulduggery, it's been 17 years since we first met." Tanith and Valkyrie were giggling behind them. Skulduggery shrugged and threw a pillow at Valkyrie. once they both calmed down, they faced the walking, talking skeleton and the woman by his side. "So what happens now?" Valkyrie inquired.

"Now, i do this." Mandy said shooting forward and grabbing Valkyrie's hand, despite the howls of protest from Valkyrie herself and her friends, traveling back in time to 1627.

TO BE CONTINUED.

**Yes/No/Good/Bad? Please review and send in any ideas or OC's**

**~MedolicHeart**


	10. Chapter 10

It was just an ordinary day in the world of Skulduggery Pleasant. Valkyrie and Skulduggery had captured another evil villain and taken it back to the Sanctuary where it has been contained. They were in Skulduggery's Bentley when Valkyrie changed the disc in the CD player to that of Evanescence. She skipped a few tracks until she got to the one she wanted. Skulduggery was about to protest but when the lyrics to the song started, so did Valkyrie. She sang them perfectly and reaching all the perfect notes. Skulduggery carried on driving to Gordon's mansion and when he arrived he killed the engine and stared at Valkyrie in astonishment while she sang.

_I linger in the doorway  
An alarm clock screaming,  
Monsters calling my name.  
Let me stay  
Where the wind will whisper to me,  
Where the raindrops  
As they're falling tell a story._

In my field of paper flowers,  
And candy clouds of lullaby.  
I lie inside myself for hours,  
And watch my purple sky fly over me.

Don't say I'm out of touch  
With this rampant chaos - your reality.  
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge.  
The nightmare  
I built my own world to escape.

In my field of paper flowers,  
And candy clouds of lullaby  
I lie inside myself for hours,  
And watch my purple sky fly over me.

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming.  
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights.  
Oh! How I long for the deep-sleep dreaming  
The Goddess of imaginary light.

In my field of paper flowers,  
And candy clouds of lullaby  
I lie inside myself for hours,  
And watch my purple sky fly over me.

When the last note faded, Valkyrie turned off the CD player and got out of the car and walked up to the front door. She unlocked the door and was about to go in when she noticed no one with her so she turned to look at the Bentley and called out "Are you coming or what?" Skulduggery nodded and followed.

**A/N Sorry this chapter is really short and I don't know how to do endings so...well...yeeaaahhh. please review if you want me to continue doing my fanfics xx if I don't get reviews then I probably won't do any more. TBH I prefer reading them than writing them.**

**~MedolicHeart xx**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Thank you to **NightcatMau **and the **guest's **who reviewed. They make me really happy to know people are reading my stories.**

**This fic kinda shows you what songs clog up my phone. BTW Skul is has a full body facade up and Tanith is remnant free because I am not a mean heartless person who enjoys Tanith's pain. **

**Just a suggestion but when they go to sing, I'd listen to it on youtube so the story makes sense better.**

**Enjoy xx**

It was a fairly warm night and the Skul crew had the night off. Skulduggery and Ghastly were waiting in Skulduggery's Bentley for Valkyrie and Tanith. Skulduggery was wearing jeans and a navy t-shirt. Long straggly hair was a mess on the top of his head and the blue eyes of the facade sparkled. Ghastly wore jeans and a green top. His scars were covered up using the facade. The door to Val- Gordon's mansion opened and out came a 90yr old with the appearance of a 20yr and the mental age of a 2yr old and a 24yr old with the appearance of a 22yr old and the mental age of a 4yr old. Tanith wore a tight red leather dress that came down to her thighs. Her hair was straightened and pined back with pretty clips. Valkyrie on the other hand wore a black strapless dress the puffed out at the bottom and came down to the knees. Her hair was curled and hung nicely down her back. When they got to the car they saw their dates' open mouths and giggled. Valkyrie got in her front seat next to Skulduggery and Tanith got in the back with Ghastly. At the same time the girls pushed the bottom of their boy's chins up and kissed them. Valkyrie and Skulduggery were the first to break apart and they looked at the back seat to find Tanith and Ghastly still kissing. Skulduggery and Valkyrie looked back at each other and shrugged. Skulduggery started the car entwining his free hand with Valkyries and drove to the Karaoke club they were spending the night at.

Once they arrived, Skulduggery went to Ghastly's door and Valkyrie went to Tanith's and like it had been rehearsed they both opened the doors and practically pulled the still kissing couple apart. Ignoring the howls of protests, Valkyrie linked arms with Tanith and held hands with Skulduggery leaving Ghastly to hold hands with Tanith because holding hands with Skulduggery would just be awkward and embarrassing. In a line they walked into the club. At first sight it looked small and cramped but then they realised all of the bodies jazzing and boogieing to the music. Skulduggery led them to the closest table her could see. Everyone except Ghastly sat down while he went to get drinks. A few minutes later he came back with two beers for the boys, coke for Valkyrie and lemonade for Tanith.

They were all settled when the next singer came on. She was a young girl of about 19 with long curly blonde hair and pretty hazel eyes. She was wearing a baggy neon pink top with a blue skull on the front and denim shorts. She looked confident.

'Eye of the tiger by Survivor' sounded from the speakers and she sang.

Everyone cheered as she exited the stage. The DJ came on and spoke into the microphone, "Does anyone want to take charge of the microphone?" Ghastly and Skulduggery looked at each other before they shouted, "THESE TWO DO!" pointing at Tanith and Valkyrie who looked at each other and shrugged. Everyone applauded while they stood on the stage. Tanith told the DJ the song they wanted to sing – Black Roses Red ~ Alanda Grace – She went back over to Valkyrie where they each grabbed a mic each and sang perfectly.

The song ended and everyone was on their feet clapping hands and cheering. The girls made their way back to their seats and into their boyfriend's arms.

"I'm just going to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute." Valkyrie said after taking a gulp of her drink.

"Me too." Tanith added. Whilst the girls were gone the boys discussed how well the girls sang.

"They were awesome!" Exclaimed Ghastly. Skulduggery nodded and was about to speak when a pretty girl walked up to him and sat on his lap.

"And _who _are you?" she said. She had a very revealing black leather top and _extremely _tight black leather shorts. Her black strappy high heels click clacked every time she tapped her foot on the floor. Skulduggery was about to tell her he was taken when Valkyries voice was heard from the stage.

xXxXxXxXx

Valkyrie and Tanith exited the bathroom and started making their way back to the table Ghastly and Skulduggery were situated at when Valkyrie stopped Tanith at the sight of Skulduggery with another girl. Tanith caught on quick and looked at Valkyrie.

"What are you going to do?" Tanith asked worriedly. Last time a girl flirted with Skulduggery, that same girl ended up with a broken nose.

"I'm going to sing." With that Valkyrie walked up to the DJ and told him the song she wanted to sing. He nodded and she grabbed one of the mics. Once she stood dead centre of the stage, she sang, Boyfriend – Alphabeat, awesomely;

The song ended and Valkyrie gave the mic back to the DJ. She jumped off the stage and made her way over to the girl flirting with Skulduggery and punched her square in the nose for not taking the song as a hint that he was taken.

"Oh no, don't you touch my boyfriend. He's not your boyfriend. He's mine!" she said to the girls face. The girl got off Skulduggery and Valkyrie sat in her place while the girl walked off holding her nose and crying. Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery to see his sea blue eyes looking at her proudly. "What? She had it coming to her. Like I said your mine!" with that Valkyrie kissed Skulduggery deeply. After what seemed like minutes, but was mere seconds, they pulled away and looked deeply into each other's eyes, their foreheads touching.

"Boy's turn!" Valkyrie heard Tanith say in a sing song voice. Skulduggery and Valkyrie turned their heads at the same time making it look creepy. Skulduggery looked at Tanith and whined, "Do we have to?" Valkyrie pulled away and looked at him determined and said, "Yes." Skulduggery looked into Valkyries bright brown eyes and saw nothing but adoration in them. He looked over to Ghastly and nodded. Ghastly nodded back and stood up. Valkyrie stood up to let Skulduggery up. On the way over to the DJ they picked a song and decided to sing 'Accidentally in love – Counting Crows'.

The song ended and they walked off the stage, after giving the mics back, to clapping and cheering. They passed the girl that was flirting with Skulduggery earlier as she was making her way up to the DJ where she asked to sing an Avril Lavigne song. Ghastly and Skulduggery sat back down and Valkyrie and Tanith decided to sit on their boy's lap.

The speakers sounded and out came a god awful version of Girlfriend – Avril Lavigne. The girl was staring and pointing at Skulduggery throughout the whole song.

When the song ended, there were boos throughout the whole audience. Someone even threw their sock at her and it landed on her head. She ran off crying and the DJ came onto the stage.

"And the boss's daughter, Mindy, everybody." No one clapped. "Anyway. Does anyone want to sing?" at this a boy stood up. He was wearing purple hoodie with bold black letters reading "UNSUB" on it, he also wore jeans and his ginger hair was messy but it suited him. After telling the DJ the song he wanted to sing, he went to centre stage and sang 'Restless heart – Matt Hires'

The song faded and there were rounds of applause and cheers from the audience and the boy exited the stage and back to his mate that was tucked away in the corner of the club receiving high fives on the way.

Slipping under the noses of Skulduggery and Ghastly, which is actually quite difficult to do, Valkyrie and Tanith walked up to the stage, making Skulduggery and Ghastly look around thinking they were there. After speaking to the DJ, Tanith grabbed a mic and went centre stage leaving Valkyrie behind the DJ awaiting her turn again. At the top of her lungs, Tanith belted out Brave – Sara Bareilles.

The rhythm turned into applauds as Tanith finished. As she exited the stage, Valkyrie went up grabbing Tanith's mic on the way and sang her and Skulduggery's song beautifully, Skeleton song – Kate Nash.

The song ended and she went back to their table to find Billy-Ray Sanguine.

"What are you doi-? What is he doing here?" she asked everyone at the table, terrified. Every time they saw each other he was always trying to kill her and sometimes he almost does. She went and sat on Skulduggery's lap as Sanguine had taken her chair. She was considering setting him on fire but there were muggles around. She didn't like the term mortals so she says muggles instead.

"The same reason your here." Sanguine answered.

"Night off?"

"To sing!"

"Oh." With that, Sanguine got up and went over to the DJ and requested the song All out of love – Air Supply. He went to the stage and sang it so sincerely it was like he was actually singing it for someone.

When he finished walked out of the door of the club ignoring all the catcalls and shouts of encore. When he got to the door, he looked back at Valkyrie and then turned and left.

"What was that about?" Tanith asked.

"I have not got the foggiest." Skulduggery answered.

"I think I do." Ghastly said and pulled Valkyrie up and took her to the door and pushed her out and into Sanguine.

"Ghastly!" she screeched. But he was already gone. She laughed nervously and looked up and into the sunglasses Sanguine always wears. "Did- did you sing that to me?" he nodded sheepishly then explained, "You see I know you are going out with Skulduggery and I didn't want him to hurt me and I figured if I kidnapped you to tell you I love you then he'd hurt me even more." This conjured a faint smile on Valkyrie's lips. She thought about all this information in her head. Finally she looked at him and said softly; "You love me?" he nodded enthusiastically. She smiled up at him then kissed him softly on the lips. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the club to a girl of about 21 singing Turn up the music – Bridgit Mendler. They went up to the table Skulduggery, Tanith and Ghastly were sitting. Valkyrie was about to speak when Skulduggery stood up and went over to Valkyrie and said, "I'm sorry Val, but it just wasn't working out. You just don't live up to my ego. I hope we can still be partners."

"Umm..." was all she said when he burst out with a, "GREAT!" and a cheery smile. Valkyrie looked at the back of his head as he walked away with confused clear on her face. "Umm..." she said again. Valkyrie looked over to Tanith and Ghastly. All they did was shrug.

"Well, Sanguine and I are going to sing a song and then we can go." Valkyrie said.

"Okay. You go!" Was Tanith's reply and Ghastly just nodded. Valkyrie pulled Sanguine by the hand and took him to the DJ where they asked to play the song White demon love song – The Killers. They sang in perfect harmony together. Like their voices were made for each other. They ended the song with a kiss and everyone cheered!

**A/N Kk first of all I am sooooo rubbish at endings! I will continue with chapter nine xx**

**~MedolicHeart xx**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N This will be an instant messaging one and I am doing the back in time one but I have really bad writers block and this just popped into my head so yeeeeaaaaahhhh. **

**~MedolicHeart xxx**

**ValkyrieGrandeButera has signed in.**

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective has signed in.**

**ValkyrieGrandeButera says:**

Heyya Skul.

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

Hello Valkyrie. Why is your screen name ValkyrieGrandeButera?

**ValkyrieGrandeButera says:**

Cozza ARIANA GRANDE BUTERA IS THE BEST!

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

Who is she though?

**ValkyrieGrandeButera says:**

Singer, Dancer, Actor. I love her songs soooo much!

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

Well can you please change your name? I don't get it.

**ValkyrieGrandeButera says:**

Yes father...

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

OI! I am not your father! If I was your father, you would be nearly as awesome as me! ;)

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Yeah, whatever!

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

What is 'Baby I'?

**SwOrDlAdY has signed in.**

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

Wassup peeps? Xx

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Tan, please explain to Skul what 'Baby I' is xx

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

It's only Val's favourite song EVER!

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

Oh.

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Baby I got love for thee so deep inside of me  
I don't know where to start  
I love you more than anything  
But the words can't even touch what's in my heart. xx

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

Oh lord! I thought you weren't into the sappy love songs!

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

-_- imma gunna get you for that!

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

I'd hide if I were you Skul!

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

Why? OOOOOUUUUUCCCCCHHHH!

How did you get here so quick?

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

I have my ways!

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

Okaaaay...

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Heyy, Tan I thought you were spending the day with Ghastly xx

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

Well, I was but he got called back to the Sanctuary for 'important business' xx

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Aww, sorry sweetie xx I know how much you were looking forward to that. Xx

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

It's okay hun xx anyway aren't you and Skul meant to be on a case?

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

No. Erskine just said that so we'd get out of his hair.

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

He needs to take a chill pill. When we went in he had folders everywhere and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks! Xx

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

Oh xx

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

Why are you two typing 'xx'?

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

Because we always do when we're on here xx

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Yup xx

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

What does it mean?

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Ahh the sweet ignorance of Skulduggery xx

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

'x' means kiss

'o' means hug

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

How does 'x' mean kiss and 'o' mean hug?

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Aaaanywaaaay... xx

**BestTailorAlive has signed in.**

**BestTailorAlive says:**

Hey guys, BTW I'm sorry Tanith but I'm going to be late home tonight. I have to help Erskine sort through his paperwork and he has loooaaaadddss! It's going to take loooooong!

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

It's okay baby xx

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Heyy, Tan, do you wanna have a sleepover round mine?

**SwOrDlAdY says:**

Sure sis, will be over with sweets and brownies! Xx

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Kk baydoll. Cya in a bit xx

**SwOrDlAdY has signed out.**

**BestTailorAlive says:**

GTG, Erskine looks like he's about to murder Tipstaff! Byee peeps!

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Kk, byee and say hiyya to Erskine for me!

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

And me!

**BestTailorAlive has signed out.**

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

And then there were two.

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain says:**

Ooooh gotta go, Tanith just got here. Talk later. Byeeee xx

**Valkyrie 'Baby I' Cain has signed out.**

**OneOfAKindSkeletonDetective says:**

I love you. Xx

**A/N Please review! **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N This is something NightcatMau and I have been working on together. **

**Enjoy xx**

**~MedolicHeart**

The Bentley whizzed round the corner to the Sanctuary and into a parking space. Skulduggery sprang out and ran round to the passenger door to carry out an unconscious Valkyrie. He practically launched himself inside just as it started to rain. He was a few doors away from the infirmary when Ghastly walked in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.  
"Ghastly move." Skulduggery said desperately. Ghastly shook his head in disappointment. "Ghastly, please. She's dying!"  
"Let her. She is Darquesse after all." Skulduggery just gaped.  
"How could you say that? and I know. Now move!"  
"You knew?!" Skulduggery nodded.  
"And so has she, for the last three years and she's still been the same old Valkyrie. She even had Nye operate on her to seal it. He nearly KILLED her!" Ghastly looked down in thought and looked back up at Skulduggery looking worryingly down at Valkyrie. Ghastly stepped aside to let skeleton and the dying girl to the infirmary.

The doctors had been able to save Valkyrie, but only just. Skulduggery was shaken. If Ghastly was willing to let Valkyrie die for being Darquesse he didn't want to know what the man would do when he found out Lord Vile's true identity. The skeleton detective shivered and looked towards his partner, now resting limp and almost lifeless, but stable on an infirmary bed. They'd have to leave Ireland, straightaway. Soon as she was able, at any rate.

_Why wait_? He thought. Just as he finished the thought, she woke up. He rushed over to her in a frenzy, tenderly touching her arms, legs and ribs to see if she was hurt. She looked at him weirdly.  
"Skul?" her voice was hoarse after so many hours not being used.  
"Val, we have to go. Ghastly has found out about Darquesse and its not long before everyone else does. We have to go. We can drop by yours to get some stuff and from here on out we have to hit the road."  
"What about my Alice and my parents?" Valkyrie asked hurriedly getting dressed, finally getting the gravity of the situation.  
"I'm sorry Val, but we're going to have to pretend you went missing."  
"Why not use the reflection?"  
"Do you really want to use it after all of the black outs?"  
"Well...no." Valkyrie and Skulduggery were just about to jump out the window, 'cause let's face it, 'Doors are for people with no imagination', when Ghastly, Erskine and Madam Mist walked in.

Ghastly made a gesture and the window slammed shut. True they could have just broken the glass, and they would have if spiders weren't crawling all over both of them. Valkyrie batted the loathsome creatures away frantically as Ghastly and Erskine closed in on her. They grabbed her roughly and started hauling her towards the door.

Skulduggery cursed and tried getting his closest friend away from what he thought were his best friends and Madam Mist.  
"Leave her alone!" he yelled over the commotion ignoring the spiders at his feet.  
"I'm sorry, Skulduggery, but Darquesse is a threat and we can't risk her coming to the surface and destroying the world." Madam Mist argued.  
"But you don't even know her and you two," he said, pointing at Ghastly and Erskine, "are meant to be her friends."  
"Well, from what you've told me, Skulduggery, she lied to her so called friends for three years." Ghastly piped up.  
"That's only because she knew you would do this!" he raised his voice, throwing his hands up in frustration.  
"What the hell is going on?" Said Tipstaff entering the room in search for Erskine.  
"Get shackles." was all Ravel said to Tipstaff to make him obey.  
"WHOA. Can we all just calm down!" Skulduggery shouted as Tipstaff came back in with a pair of shackles in his hands. He managed to calm everyone down when Nye walked in.  
"Can you please take this to your office?" it asked. "Believe it or not I do have other patients." the six of them made their way back to Erskine's office. Tipstaff went and sat back at his desk thinking the thing he wanted to tell Ravel could wait. Ravel was at the front and Ghastly and Madam Mist were behind him. Big mistake. Skulduggery had his arm around Valkyrie's shoulders and he pulled her close. The other three were oblivious as he whispered, "Be brave." in her ears. Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery's eye sockets as he inclined his head to the exit. She nodded and they legged it.

They made it out and into the Bentley, Skulduggery using his remote to open the car and start the engine as they ran. As the raced off the doors to the Sanctuary flew open, but for the moment at least they had escaped. Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie and laughed. "I think that's the first plan I ever had work. And you've said 'Be brave.' mean I have a rubbish plan."

Valkyrie smiled over at him, her mind still whirling. "OK, it worked. But now what do we do, they'll be after us, you know. I don't want this to happen Skulduggery; I don't want to have to fight my friends. I understand them being afraid of me." She said sadly.

Skulduggery looked at her. "I don't. You're still the same Valkyrie you always will be. Half your problem is you choose to believe everything people tell you Darquesse will do. If they'd told you she was going to open up a soup kitchen and feed the homeless you'd be doing that now, I wager." Valkyrie smiled in reply.

Skulduggery was her best friend and could always cheer her up. But he could also distract her and if he didn't answer it meant he had no plan. She sighed and settled back into her seat hoping one would come to them soon.

Valkyrie had drifted off into a state of sleep and Skulduggery had managed to ditch the Bentley and find one of his many hidden cars. Now they're being hunted he'd have to be very careful about what he does. In his 67 Chevy Impala, he sped down the highway neglecting the stuff from Valkyrie's house knowing that to return would almost certainly get them caught. Skulduggery knew it was no longer safe to stay in Ireland and so began mentally running through the places they could hide. America would be good or Australia or maybe Scotland. He was so occupied in his thoughts he didn't notice Valkyrie wake up.  
"Hey." she said causing him to jump but keep the steering perfect.  
"Morning sunshine. Give me your phone." Skulduggery replied. Valkyrie looked at the clock to find it was indeed, morning. 2:24AM to be exact. She handed him her phone as he skilfully drove and scrolled through her contacts to find the phone that the reflection had. On the first ring she picked up.  
"Hello?" she asked.  
"Hello Reflection, its Skulduggery. Now listen to me carefully, are you in Valkyrie's bedroom?" Skulduggery replied.  
"Yes." was her answer.  
"Good now fully open the window and get in the mirror saying what I'm about to text you."  
"okay." as soon as she said it Skulduggery hung up and tapped on Valkyrie's phone's keyboard.  
'Oo ee oo ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang.  
oo ee oo ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang.'  
"Seriously the witchdoctor song?" Valkyrie said reading the text after Skulduggery handed her phone back.  
"The person that made the spell was, in fact, a witchdoctor." He said. He then opened his window and grabbed her phone then throwing it out.  
"Hey!"  
"We have to make it look like you've been kidnapped and to do that we have to lose all traceable technology," he said chucking his phone out just for good measure and doing the window back up. "And we have to use cash. Good job I never use credit cards." Valkyrie shrugged and then a thought struck her.  
"Skul, where are we going to go?"  
"America." she gaped but didn't object.

She tried to think of what she knew about America and the truth was precious little aside from what she'd seen on TV or in the movies. She knew of course there were two things in America she wouldn't like at all and that was the American Sanctuary and Bill-Ray Sanguine. But perhaps that's why Skulduggery was going there. After all, who in their right mind would choose America as a place to hide?

Of course questions like that were better asked than pondered. "I'm not objecting, Skulduggery. But why America?"  
"Because no one will expect us to go there and about the only thing good about the American Sanctuary is that they will refuse to let our Sanctuary come looking for us. Because I can assure you Erskine is not about to tell them a potential super weapon is hiding in America." Valkyrie grinned at him in delight.

"That plan actually might work. So long as there are no crazed Texans involved."

"Why would there be? The Sanctuary isn't in Texas and at any rate will be looking to avoid both."

"I guess I'm paranoid. It was just- How could they do that, Skulduggery? Turn on me like that?" Valkyrie asked.

Skulduggery sighed. "You find out who your real friends are when their backs are up against the wall, Valkyrie. People who swear to you daily that they will stand with you no matter what suddenly turn on you when self-preservation is involved. Oh, they will say it is for the good of the world to shift the blame, but it isn't. I'm truly ashamed of those men, all of them. They know you, Valkyrie."

Valkyrie went silent and looked out the window as they stopped at a petrol station on the boarder of Dublin for well... petrol. Skulduggery put his facade up and got out to fill the tank up. He went in to pay and got Valkyrie a much wanted coffee from Starbucks just the way she liked it. He got back in totally unprepared for the question Valkyrie asked him.  
"Skul, if you weren't Lord Vile and you didn't know your true name, would you still act like this around me?" he went silent which meant he didn't know. "It's okay if you wouldn't. i was just wondering."  
"To be honest Val, if I didn't know my true name then I probably wouldn't know you because of the war. However if I did know you then I would still be like this round you because you are the person I have grown closest to in the god knows how many years I've known you. You are the reason I haven't become Lord Vile and destroyed the world." He stated. "But if I didn't know you like I do now and I didn't know my true name then I probably..." he hesitated struck between telling her or not.  
"You probably..." she persisted.  
"I probably would have left you back there." he finally spoke. He looked at Valkyrie to see she was neither sad nor angry.  
"Okay. Thanks for being honest." she said and sipped some of her coffee.

At least he was honest. And he was taking care of her, getting her to safety. It helped that he admitted he could become Lord Vile as easily as she could become Darquesse and Valkyrie had a feeling that if things didn't turn out well, he just might.

"Can you promise me something?" She asked as he drove. Skulduggery hesitated before replying.

"I don't like to make promises I may not be able to keep. You know that Val." He replied warily.

"Just promise me that if something happens to me, that if I don't make it through this- Promise me you'll take care of yourself."

He turned to find her chocolate brown eyes expectant for an answer. For once in his undead life he wasn't sure he could give her an answer so he didn't say anything. This worried Valkyrie and she knew not to rush him so she just settled back in her seat and drank her coffee.  
"Nothing is going to happen to you Val. I won't let it." Was the answer he gave. Using his free hand, he grabbed her hand and squeezed. She squeezed his hand back and looked at him to give him a small smile. Skulduggery was looking at Valkyrie and Valkyrie was looking at Skulduggery, so when a little boy of about 7 or 8 walked across the road it was too late to swerve and they hit him.  
The car went up then down and Skulduggery looked back at the road then stopped at the side of it. He got out seeing what he hit. Once he realized it was a little boy, he ventured into the road and picked him up bridal style. Taking him back to the car, he was twisting and turning his skull to see where his parents were. He managed to get to the car before he detected that nothing was wrong. The boy wasn't bleeding at all and there were no broken bones. He wasn't sure even Valkyrie could survive that with protective clothing let alone in jeans and a t-shirt.  
"What are you?" Skulduggery whispered as Valkyrie got out the car to see what was going on.  
"Hey, Skul what happened? What did we hit?" She caught a glimpse of the boys head before she fainted. Before her head managed to hit the ground, Skulduggery was there. At lightning speed, he managed to carefully put the boy on the ground and catch Valkyrie.

Skulduggery had no choice but to load them both into the Bentley; although he knew the child could well be dangerous. But the boy reminded him of losing his own family and the terror he'd felt at thinking he'd taking someone else's child made him want to protect him. He allowed himself a small smile. The idea of him and Valkyrie travelling with a child pleased him to no end.

He made sure they were both buckled in then was off. Skulduggery wondered where the boy had come from. Was he something from a lab, a type of Adept, what? Or more chillingly, what if the child was a ruse, something somehow designed by the Sanctuary to track them down?

Valkyrie stirred. "Sorry, Skulduggery. I think I was going Darquesse for some reason. But that kid-" She turned around to see him sleeping peacefully in the back seat. "Darquesse wouldn't hurt him, she recognized him somehow. It shocked her so I fain- Blacked out."

This worried Skulduggery. How could Darquesse recognize someone if she was the dark side of Valkyrie? Unless... she was maybe reincarnated and became the dark side off Valkyrie.  
"I highly doubt that." he murmured.  
"Highly doubt what?" Valkyrie inquired, overhearing what Skulduggery had murmured.  
"I was just thinking."  
"Uh-oh." She smiled. This earned a light poke in the ribs and a giggled erupted from her.  
"Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," he began sarcastically, "Is that how can Darquesse find that boy familiar if she is your dark side unless she was reincarnated which was the thing I highly doubt." Valkyrie understood. In fact, she was having that exact same thought except the reincarnation bit. No way would she have thought of that. They reached an airport of which Skulduggery parked and got out, walking to the door where he sat the little boy to find him awake, his blue eyes sparkling with frightened tears at the sight of a walking skeleton.  
"Here, let me." Valkyrie said as Skulduggery stepped aside. Having put the facade down when he exited Starbucks he put it back in place for he was going into a public place. Valkyrie walked up to the open door and hunkered down to his height. She only managed to get a glimpse of him before he screamed, "MUMMY!" This took both her and Skulduggery by complete surprise as the little boy shot forward and wrapped his small arms round Valkyrie's toned shoulders. Whilst doing this, memories fleeted in and out of Valkyrie's head.

Valkyrie held the little boy close as the memories came to her, but how could they be hers? She remembered things like him being born, his first birthday, everything. But how could she? She pondered the mystery as he snuggled in close, and then hoisted him up into her arms.

"Hush, sweetheart, it's all right, mummy's here." She said, looking at Skulduggery rather helplessly. Skulduggery merely shrugged.

"Mummy, it really is you! I missed you!" The boy said and Valkyrie just gave him a reassuring pat.

"Of course it is sweetheart." She said, searching her name the strange memories for his name. She'd have to come up with it quick. An airport was no place to have a child have a meltdown and he would if she didn't get him name right.

She then wondered something.  
"Sweetie, how are you here now?" she asked in a soothing voice, trying not to upset the boy. Then it hit her. Both she and her 'son' died at the same time in a car crash in Ireland and in the 1970's. She must have been frowning because Skulduggery asked, "What's wrong?" so she explained,  
"We died in a car crash exactly twenty years before I was born."  
"Mummy, what's wrong?" The boy asked.  
"Sweetheart, what's my name?" the boy looked slightly confused. Well as confused as a 7 year old could get, but he answered anyway.  
"Darcy. Remember mummy? You told me that it was Irish and it meant dark." Valkyrie snapped her head round to the sound of a Sanctuary van.  
"Run." Skulduggery said and Valkyrie, still with the boy resting on her hip, legged it into the airport.  
"Why are we running, mummy?" the boy asked.  
"Because there are bad people after me." She panted. Unknowingly, the boy tapped two fingers on his arm and a big blue light went around them. Skulduggery only saw this one other time, and that was from China Sorrows. It was a cloaking sigil. Skulduggery stopped and stared at the boy.  
"What other magic can you do?" he asked the boy. Valkyrie put him on the floor and sat in front of him crossed legs. They were under lamplight on the pavement. There was no one in sight. The little boy copied his mother and sat crossed legs on the floor. He answered eventually by clicking his fingers on one hand summoning a spark. With the other hand, he snapped his palm making a wind blow back Valkyrie's hair. She smiled proudly at him and he beamed back.  
"What's your name?" Skulduggery asked. The boy looked for permission from his mother. When Valkyrie nodded he said proudly, "Dillen Russell."  
"Nice name." Skulduggery stated. "Who's your Dad?" The boy started crying so Valkyrie put her arms under his and hoisted him so he was sitting on her lap. Memories hit Valkyrie like a brick. Bad memories. Memories of a big muscled man beating the life out of her and Dillen. Tears started pouring down her cheeks and she touched her cheek in the memory of him slapping her.  
"Val? What's wrong?" Skulduggery asked worriedly.  
"He used to beat us to death so when he was at work; we packed a bag each and left. Then the car crash."

Valkyrie cuddled Dillen into her. "Sweetheart, this is really important. Can you tell mummy how you got here?" She asked and he frowned thoughtfully. He shook his head then and giggled.  
"Watch mummy, but be quiet." He said and Valkyrie watched as Sanctuary agents ran right past them. It was amusing to watch them search, but she wasn't sure how long the cloaking sigil would work. She also wondered who would tattoo a child and hoped China hadn't been involved. Because if she was it meant Dillen's abilities would prove useful to China in the end and the woman was using him, even now.

Valkyrie scanned the airport, half expecting to see China. She didn't of course, but China could have been using sigils too. Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery. "I don't want to say this, but I think China might be involved. How else would a seven year old have sigils and make magic? I don't remember him being that way before." She said quietly.

"Dillen, Do you know someone called China Sorrows?" Skulduggery asked urgently. Dillen looked thoughtful and then shook his head.  
"She's really pretty. She has black hair and blue eyes." at this Dillen shook his head again.  
"Okay then, what is the first thing you remember today? Did anyone apart from us, talk to you?"  
"I just remember waking up at the place we had the accident. I walked onto the road and then you," The boy started, pointing to Skulduggery, "ran me over but it didn't hurt." Valkyrie and Skulduggery shared a look.  
"Okay, well we have to go but how are we going to get through without a passport for him?" Valkyrie said this to Skulduggery but Dillen heard and pulled one seemingly out of nowhere. Valkyrie stared at the boy.  
"How did you get one of these?" she asked softly.  
"A woman gave it to me before we had the accident." Valkyrie frowned.  
"What woman, Sweetie?" The 'mother' asked half calm half urgent. The boy shrugged his shoulders but answered with a "Dunno."  
"What did she look like?" Skulduggery pressed.  
"She has mummy's colored hair but it was curly," he explained, twirling Valkyrie's dark hair. "And pinky purple eyes. They were pretty." Skulduggery and Valkyrie shared that look again that said 'What the heck is going on?"  
"Did this woman say anything to you?" Valkyrie asked. Dillen shook his head again.  
"Where are we going mummy?"  
"Remember that big map you had in your bedroom of America?" he nodded excitedly. "Well, pick somewhere from that map." he smiled then said, "Mummy, you know where I want to go." at the same time they said, "LA!" they smiled at each other then Valkyrie stood up, taking Dillen with her. She turned to Skulduggery to find his head tilted to the right in amusement and a smile on his fake face.  
"What?" Valkyrie asked slightly confused as to why Skulduggery was smiling. Instead of telling her what he thought of her as a mother, he shook his head and said, "Come on, let's go." She frowned but complied. The blue light was still around them and Skulduggery turned to Dillen as a thought struck him.  
"Dillen, can you make this blue light smaller so it is just surrounding us and not other things too?" Dillen nodded and tapped the sigil until the blue light surrounding them was just the right size.  
"Thank you." Skulduggery nodded his approval.  
An hour later, the three of them were seated on the plane with Dillen at the window, Valkyrie in the middle and Skulduggery at the aisle seat. The blue light had disappeared and they were sitting, legally, on the plane on their way to L.A.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Part 2 from NightcatMau and me! **

**Enjoy!**

**~MedolicHeart**

Valkyrie smiled as she looked at Dillen. He was a happy child; she remembered that, even in their past life nothing had stopped him from being happy. She didn't know where his father was but she resolved to go Darquesse on him if she ever met him. The thought made her shiver slightly. What if she was Darquesse as a sort of protection, a way to deal with her past life?  
She looked over at Skulduggery. "Thanks for doing this, and I mean that. You didn't have to, you know."  
He smiled at her gently. "Of course I did, Valkyrie. Until the end, remember? We will always be together, forever. Nothing is ever going to change that." He took her hand and squeezed it gently, bringing a smile to her face. Valkyrie squeezed back, happy just to be with him and Dillen for the moment.  
Dillen looked up at her. "Mum, is he my new dad?" He asked and Valkyrie blinked in surprise. How on Earth did she answer that one?  
"Do you want me to be, Dillen?" Skulduggery asked. The boy nodded eagerly. That made Valkyrie and Skulduggery smile even more. The fact that her supposed child thought of Skulduggery as a Dad was enough to make her happy. Dillen leaned into Valkyrie and fell asleep almost immediately. She played with his short dark hair whilst he rested while Skulduggery rubbed her hand with his thumb. She laid her head on his bony shoulder and succumbed to the much welcomed sleep.  
Skulduggery looked down at his partner to find her sleeping peacefully. In his opinion she looked gorgeous when she slept. Peaceful even. An air hostess asked him if he wanted a drink. He politely declined and asked for a blanket instead. The woman nodded and went away only to come back again in a few moments with a rather big blanket. Skulduggery nodded his thanks and the woman went away. Carefully and delicately, Skulduggery placed the blanket over Dillen, Valkyrie and then himself. After taking a few moments to look at how peaceful Valkyrie and Dillen were, he slipped into his meditation state.  
_Darcy had just came home to find Dillen laying in the corner unconscious and blood trickling down his face. He looked like her was barely breathing. She ran over to him in a frenzy saying, "Baby, Dillen, Sweetheart, please baby, don't leave me. This can't be happening!" She frantically checked his pulse to find only a faint on was present. She picked him up and ran out the house and into her car to take him to Kenspeckle Grouse. It was fifteen minutes later when Kenspeckle came into the waiting room, hands covered in blood and a grim expression on his aged face that made Darcy think the worst. "There was a shard of glass embedded into his temple only just missing the vital parts in the side of his head. He is stable and I put some healing gel on the wound but he probably won't wake up for another fifteen minutes but if he's anything like you, which I can only imagine he is, then he will be right as rain in a few minutes. You may go in and see him now." Those last eight words were the ones she had been waiting for the whole time she was there. She shot up and was about to enter the room in which her son was situated when Kenspeckle put his hand on her elbow, stopping her.  
"Why don't you just leave him?" Kenspeckle asked quietly. She knew he meant her husband and as he looked into her cunning eyes, he knew she was going to as soon as they got back. He let go of her elbow and she continued into the room where her son was lying awake on a gurney awaiting her arrival. At the sight of her son alive and well, a smile lit up her face. Dillen mirrored it as she scooped him into a hug. Avoiding the gooey gel healing her son's wounds, she kissed him repeatedly on the head until the little boy released a cute giggle. "Mummy," Giggle "stop kissing me." Giggle "it tickles." She sat back and looked at him. "Oh, Dillen, I thought I lost you." Dillen hugged Darcy and didn't let go until she asked him a question, "Dillen, did daddy do this to you?" He nodded and tears brimmed his eyes threatening to fall. She looked at the clock and then back at Dillen. "Hey, do you want to go on holiday?" She asked him. He nodded eager to go. "Is daddy coming?" Darcy shook her head and he screamed "YAY!" She smiled in delight and told him to stay put while she spoke with Kenspeckle. Having being excellent at persuading him, though he had been reluctant, Kenspeckle released Dillen. They had been home and packed everything they owned and left half an hour before Darcy's husband was due home. Dillen was complaining of hunger and Darcy's stomach was growling at her so she stopped at a petrol station to fill her car up with gas. Across the road was a McDonald's so she bought an adult meal for her and Dillen to share. Darcy needed to go to the toilet so she told Dillen to stick to the seat like glue while she was gone.  
Dillen was sticking to the seat like glue when a pretty lady came up to him. She had dark curly hair and pretty pinky purple eyes. She wore a black cape around her joint at the neckline with a golden pin. "Hello ma'am." Dillen said politely. The woman in the cape smiled and sat down in Darcy's seat. She handed Dillen a passport and said, "Whatever you do, don't show your mummy this until tomorrow, okay?" He nodded and tucked the passport into his jacket pocket. The lady smiled and then walked off as Darcy came out of the bathroom.  
"Let's go, sweetie." Dillen wiggled round in his seat then said, "But mummy, I'm stuck to the seat like glue. I'm going to have to stay here all day and all night and eat all the food." Darcy laughed then said, "Well I guess if you're stuck then you won't be able to eat the ice cream in the car." That made Dillen shoot up and over to the counter where Darcy giggled and ordered his favourite coned vanilla ice cream with a flake sticking out of the top. Darcy and Dillen made their way back to the car and tightened themselves in. About twenty minutes later, Dillen was asleep in the backseat with ice cream all round his face. She was so focused on looking at him, Darcy never saw the oncoming car and was too late to swerve. The compact of the crash killed both Darcy and Dillen._  
Valkyrie shot up in her seat, waking Skulduggery. "Val? what's wrong?" she was covered in sweat and she looked to her right to find Dillen still sound asleep.  
"Nothing, Skul, it was just a nightmare." knowing what to do next, Skulduggery put an arm round Valkyrie's shoulders and he let her settle back down and into sleep.

When the plane landed and they'd gotten through customs Skulduggery led them to a car rental place and handled the negotiations. Valkyrie was content to let him, and she enjoyed getting to see him with Dillen. The boy already loved Skulduggery and seemed to have forgotten his fear and he clung to Skulduggery, begging to be picked up. Skulduggery obliged him, even carrying him to the rental car.  
"You're really good with him, thank you, Skulduggery." Valkyrie said once they were al settled and Skulduggery was driving.  
"Think nothing of it. I don't suppose you'd like to tell me about the nightmare?" He asked hopefully.  
"I will, I promise, just not when Dillen can hear. I will tell you that I saw the mysterious woman he met in my dream."  
"Anyone we know?"  
"No and I can't remember if I knew her. This is just so strange, Skulduggery. Do you think these are my real memories, that he is my son?"  
"Real memories or not, he is your son now, Valkyrie. Our son. We won't let anything bad happen to him. Will we, Dillen?" Skulduggery raised his voice slightly and Dillen giggled. They hadn't eaten on the plane so Valkyrie was content when Skulduggery suggested stopping. It was a change for him.  
He'd never let her starve, but not eating himself he could forget at times. She had never mentioned anything to him before and was wondering how to point out growing boys needed regular meals and snacks. Skulduggery seemed to read her mind. "We'll be stopping more often now, perhaps picking up things to keep in the Bentley. Growing boys need to be well fed." The smile on his face was gentle and Valkyrie realized that Skulduggery had wanted a son for a long time.

"Where do you want to go, Dillen?" Skulduggery asked the boy.  
"Oh, can we go McDonalds?" Valkyrie took a sharp intake of breath that didn't go unnoticed.  
"What's wrong Val?" Skulduggery asked worried.  
"Nothing, let's go McDonalds." She said quietly. she then turned round in her seat and asked Dillen, "What do you want from McDonalds, kiddo?" Dillen smiled and gave her an answer, "Can we have what we last had?" Valkyrie nodded and turned back round to see Skulduggery's head tilted to the left in thought.  
"Penny for your thoughts?" Valkyrie asked him patient for the answer.  
"What did you have last time?" It took a moment or so for Valkyrie to realize they were at a drive thru.  
"Oh, adult size nugget meal, a large vanilla shake and a flake 99 please." in the back seat, Dillen was bouncing up and down in his seat in anticipation for a meal he hasn't had in 20 years. Skulduggery drove round to the second stage where he paid. "I'll pay you back, I promise." Valkyrie spoke up having sunk into her seat, deep in thought.  
"No, don't worry, Val."  
"Thanks Skul." With that said, they drove round to the third and final stage where they received their food. A few miles down the road they stopped at a hotel. After they checked in, Dillen and Valkyrie sat down and enjoyed their meal. Once Dillen had finished his ice cream, he had gone to sleep in one half of the double bed and seeing as Skulduggery didn't sleep, Valkyrie had the other half.  
Skulduggery's facade was down and he and Valkyrie sat on the sofa speaking in hushed tones.  
"Do you want to tell me about your dream now?" Skulduggery spoke quietly, careful as to not wake the sleeping seven year old. Valkyrie looked over to Dillen to make sure he was asleep then nodded. Valkyrie moved up to Skulduggery so she wouldn't have to make too much noise speaking and began.  
"It was horrible, Skul. I came home from doing something and," tears brimmed her eyes and threatened to fall. "Dillen was unconscious in the corner of the room. i took him to Kenspeckle and-"  
"Whoa. Hold on a sec, did you say Kenspeckle?" Valkyrie nodded.  
"Maybe that's why he was always nice to me and never you." she grinned at the thought which earned her a poke in the ribs. She stuck her tongue out at him then continued telling him her dream. "Anyway, I took him to Kenspeckle to find out he had a shard of glass embedded into his temple. It was his father who did that to him, Skul. I don't see how i married that man. He used to beat us to near death and he was a mortal. Me and Dillen were and still are sorcerers. Anyway, we got home while He was still at work, whatever that was, and we packed a bag and left. We stopped off at McDonald's where we shared a meal and i went to the toilet and a woman in a black cape pinned together with a golden pin came up to Dillen and told him to give me his passport the next day. She looked just like he said. Dark curly hair and pinky purple eyes. Then she left and we got back in the car. I was looking through the mirror at Dillen and then a car crashed into us." By the end of that story, Valkyrie had tears streaming down her cheeks. Skulduggery put an arm around her shoulders to stop them shaking and pulled her close.  
"Don't worry, Val, I will not let anything happen to you or Dillen! I promise you that. Until the end."  
"Until the end." When she said that, she shifted until she was comfortable and drifted into a dreamless sleep.  
Skulduggery was angered by the story but didn't show it. How dare anyone hurt her or Dillen like that?! He looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms and carefully carried her bridal style over too the other side of the double bed where he laid her gently and tucked the blankets around her. he looked at Dillen and Valkyrie when a thought crossed hid mind. This isn't just the little girl who followed him around like a lost puppy when she was twelve and her son from another life. This was Skulduggery's family. he tapped the tattoos on his collarbone and his facade flowed into a face. he then kissed Valkyrie on the cheek and a smile appeared from her lips. "Night Val." He said.  
"Night Skul." he then did the same with Dillen but getting no response. He stood at the foot of the bed and looked at his family then a few moments later he went over to the sofa and laid down drifting into meditation.

Valkyrie awoke in the morning to the sight of Dillen watching TV and eating a small bowl of sugary cereal. "Continental breakfast." Skulduggery said, then gestured to her own awaiting meal. A blueberry muffin, coffee and some fruit. Valkyrie happily got up and started in on her meal.  
"Thanks so much, Skul. You're a lifesaver." She said and he smiled at her.  
"That I am. We have until noon and I'm thinking if you go down as young and lovely as you are you can get some more boxes of that cereal Dillen is enjoying and suchlike. I already helped myself to some, but extras never hurt." He tapped his chest and Valkyrie laughed. She'd forgotten about the pouch he used to carry things and could only imagine how many things have disappeared from the breakfast bar into the pouch.  
But she did take Dillen down after they had showered and they got plenty of the little cereal containers, muffins and fruit. There were even cold cups of covered fruit juice and milk and she took some of those as well, not feeling in the least bit guilty. Dillen helped pack the car by putting the small ice bucket filled with the cold drinks and ice carefully on the floor, wedged between all the other foods they'd gathered.  
Skulduggery grinned at them both as they got into the car. "Is my family ready?" He asked and Valkyrie hugged him tight in response. He laughed, and then ruffled Dillen's hair as he came up to hug him too. Skulduggery decided he could get used to this. He made sure everyone was buckled then they were off.

A few hours later they had managed to find a house to be sold in the middle of nowhere. It was a two story house but the second story was the attic and very spacious. As soon as you entered, there was a hallway leading to several doors. At first sight Valkyrie thought it was beautiful. There was a rich red carpet leading the way to the end of the hallway and pale wallpaper with golden swirls. The doors were a dark wood that lead to the living room, kitchen and dining room, bathroom, master bedroom and 2 kid's bedroom. At the end of the hall was a stairway leading to the attic. It had a pattern of flowers engraved into the hand railing. Skulduggery helped Valkyrie bring the food in and put them away in the pristine white kitchen while Dillen went off to explore.  
The first room Dillen went in was a boy's room. It was fairly big and had royal blue wallpaper and glow in the dark stars stuck on the ceiling. The wardrobe reached the ceiling and was empty. The bed was a little bigger than a single bed but smaller than a double bed. The floor was made of mahogany wood with a fluffy blue carpet laid on top. He laid down on the bed to test the mattress and found it to his liking.  
The next room was the living room where he found a flat screen TV. He sat there gaping in awe having never seen one that big before. Skulduggery came in and laughed at the look on Dillen's face. The rest of the room was amazing. It had a sofa that was red stitched patterns in red. there was a coffee table sat a few feet in front of the sofa and a bunch of bookshelves lined the flower printed walls. A few books in particular caught Skulduggery's eye...socket. He wondered over and pulled one out then yelled, "Hey, Gordon's books made it in America!" to Valkyrie. She came running in excitedly saying, "Ooh let me see. Let me see." Skulduggery passed her the book he was holding called 'Brain Muncher'. Behind the two, Dillen asked, "Whose Gordon?" Valkyrie smiled at him then sat on the sofa next to him and began to explain. "Gordon was my uncle and he wrote books for a living. This is one of them." Valkyrie finished handing the book to Dillen. She kissed him on the forehead then went back into the kitchen where she carried on putting the food away. Dillen turned to Skulduggery. "What are these books about, Daddy?" Skulduggery's tilted his head to the right in happiness that Dillen called him daddy and answered the question. "There about magic adventure those sorcerers have done and one of them is about mummy's best friend."  
"Will I have a magic adventure one day?" Dillen asked.  
"Count on it." was Skulduggery's reply. That made Dillen smile. "Have you explored all the rooms?" Skulduggery questioned. Dillen shook his head and told him that he had only explored the living room and one of the kid rooms. "Why don't you go and look at the other room to see if you want that one instead." Skulduggery suggested. Dillen nodded then said, "Okay Daddy." that made happiness surge through his bones as Dillen ran off leaving the book on the sofa.  
The second kid's room was massacre of pink frills. Dillen was about to close the door and walk away when he caught sight of a little girl sitting in the corner. She was wearing a pink frilly dress and had brunette curls and brown eyes. She looked exactly like the china doll she was holding.


	15. Chapter 15

"Daddy! Mummy! There's a girl in my room!" Dillen called, knowing a stranger shouldn't be in the house and Skulduggery and Valkyrie were beside him in an instant. Valkyrie walked over to the little girl and crouched down to be level with her.

"Hey, sweetie, have you got a name?" She asked and the girl just clutched her doll tighter in response. Valkyrie looked back at her family. "This house is supposed to be deserted, right?" She asked and Skulduggery nodded. "Well she's too young to be caring for herself so where did she come from?" She didn't want to admit it but something about finding the little girl there had spooked her. She hated seeing everyone they met as a possible trap or enemy, but she had to think that way to keep her family safe.

Skulduggery hunkered down to her height and spoke gently. "How did you get here?" The girl's eyes grew afraid and she looked beyond Skulduggery at a muscular man with burns across his face. Dillen buried his face in Valkyrie's shoulder out of fear while Skulduggery stood up and faced the man.  
"Who are you?" The man said, disgust clear in his voice. Skulduggery was just about to tell him his name when Valkyrie elbowed him in the ribs and whispered in his ear hole, "New start." he nodded his skull and turned back to the man. "I am Tristan Smith and this is my lovely wife Ashleigh. This here," he pointed to Dillen. "is our son, Dillen. And who are you and this sweet young lady?" he pointed to the little girl still clutching the replica of herself.  
"My name is Dave Anderson and that there is my sorry excuse for a daughter Lilith and I've just noticed your a skeleton." Dillen rolled his eyes and said, "Well done Sherlock!" he said gaining confidence with every moment passing by. The rather adorable little girl behind him giggled. Valkyrie smiled and Skulduggery chuckled. "Why are you here?" Skulduggery asked the burnt man.  
"We live here." That answer worried Dillen to the core so he pulled on Valkyrie's sleeve until she was on her knees at his height.  
"What's wrong, sweetie?" She asked with a worried look on her face.  
"I thought you said we were the only ones here." Dillen replied in her ear.  
"So did we." she whispered back. "Honey, why don't you and Lilith talk to each other while us three go into the living room and speak. Okay?" Valkyrie said a little louder so everyone in the room could hear. Dillen nodded and all the adults left the room.  
"Hello Lilith." Dillen said politely.  
"Hello." she whispered back.  
"How old are you?"  
"Six."  
"Really?!" he asked enthusiastically. She nodded and asked him how old he was.  
"I'm seven."  
"Cool." she replied.  
"How long have you lived here." Dillen asked looking around the room. Top to bottom was covered wit baby pink. the bed sheets were frilly. the wardrobe had flowers on it and the walls looked like twenty different shades of pink. Lilith shrugged her shoulders and tightened the hold on her doll. Dillen noticed this and questioned where she got it from. The little girl broke down into silent tears as she sat down crossed legs on the floor. Dillen walked over to her and sat next to her, placing an arm round her shoulder in doing so. "My mummy gave it to me before she died." Lilith finally answered. Dillen patted the girl on the back gently and then pulled her into a hug. They sat like that for a while until Skulduggery and Valkyrie came barging in.

Skulduggery grabbed Dillen while Valkyrie swept up Lilith. "OK, sweetie, you're coming with us, all right?" She asked and Lilith nodded bravely, clutching her doll to her tightly. They got out to the Bentley and Skulduggery was flooring the gas pedal when and enraged Dave burst from the house.

"I hate mortals sometimes." Skulduggery hissed. Valkyrie said nothing, just held Lilith to her. They could be arrested for kidnapping now, she knew that. But how could they have left Lilith with a monster? She knew they couldn't have. She just hoped if those hunting them caught up with them they would spare the children.

They made it to the car and once buckled in, Skulduggery floored it. "So much for a new start." Valkyrie joked.  
"Where are we going, mummy?" Dillen asked from the back seat.  
"Following our noses." Skulduggery answered.  
"But you don't have a nose to follow." Lilith pointed out. Dillen let out a light giggle.  
"She has a point you know." Valkyrie pointed out, smiling.  
"Hush." Skulduggery said seriously.  
"Why did we leave that man at the house?" Dillen inquired.  
"Because he was a bad man." Everyone lapsed into silence.

A while later, Lilith was still clutching her china doll, she and Dillen had fallen asleep. Valkyrie had her jacket laid on her like a blanket and way drifting into the world of sleep when Skulduggery whispered a question her way.  
"What are we going to do? Trouble just seems to find us wherever we go and if we keep this up, we'll end up with god knows how many kids and we'll end up being on the run for kidnapping. Valkyrie shrugged and yawned.  
"I don't know Skul, but can we talk about it tomorrow when I have coffee in my hand?" she whispered back.  
"Sure, Val, just go to sleep." He held her hand as she fell asleep with a small smile on her face at the contact.

Valkyrie awoke and Skulduggery got her a coffee, and breakfast, he was after all not a heartless man. Once they got the kids settled in a booth she took Skulduggery to a quiet corner to talk to him. They aren't going to hurt you or the kids, Skulduggery. You know that as well as I do. I want to turn myself in." She whispered.

"What? After we've come this far? Valkyrie they'll most likely kill you." He hissed.

"I know, but I've died before and come back. Maybe we'll meet again someday."

"No, Valkyrie. We eat breakfast and we figure out another plan. I love you, I'm not handing you over to be killed." Skulduggery said, guiding her gently back to the booth.

She stopped at the edge of the booth and Skulduggery turned to her. There were tears in her eyes and he was about to ask what was wrong when she hugged him tight and whispered "I love you too." in his facade ear. He hugged her back and then they sat down at their booth with Dillen and Lilith at their sides. "So we agreed that you won't hand yourself in?" Valkyrie nodded and drank some of her coffee. She sighed in content. She had a perfect coffee in her hand, a son and a kind of kidnapped daughter by her side and the man she loves the other side of the table. Life couldn't get better than this. That was until Tanith Low entered. Except something about her was off. Valkyrie turned her back and Skulduggery did the same so she wouldn't notice them. Tanith walked up to counter and ordered her favourite hot chocolate with extra whipped cream. When Valkyrie heard her order this, tears started pouring down her face and Skulduggery quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed.  
"What's wrong mummy?" Dillen asked scared that something in that shop could upset her. They were in a coffee shop for Pete's sake.  
"Nothing, baby, just eat your chocolate muffin." she whispered. Dillen nodded and started munching through the muffin. Lilith had finished her fruit salad and was sitting still clutching her china doll. Skulduggery began to think it was part of her.  
Tanith was waiting to the side of the counter waiting for her order. Valkyrie wanted to talk to her so badly but knew she couldn't. Not if she didn't want to run the risk of getting caught and Tanith telling the elders where she was so she just sat there quietly she suddenly felt sick and pushed the croissant away from her. Skulduggery noticed this and became worried.  
"What's wrong? are you okay?" he whispered. Valkyrie nodded and pointed to the toilet. He nodded back and she silently slipped from the table and walked past Tanith and into the toilets without being spotted. The toilets were empty so she sat in a stall and let the tears flow.

Valkyrie cried. She wanted to go out so badly and talk to Tanith but she knew she couldn't. Tanith would tell Ghastly and then they'd be caught and all this running would be for nothing. But what was Tanith doing in America anyhow? Hunting them? Valkyrie shivered wishing things could go back to the way they had been before Darquesse.

Getting caught didn't scare her, because she knew it had to happen sooner or later. But what scared her was the after. Would they kill her? The thought frightened her because that is when Darquesse would come out and take full control. There would be on more Valkyrie Cain ever again. But she couldn't let that happen, ever. They would run forever if they had to.

She left the stall and washed her face with cold water from the taps. She looked at herself in the mirror and pulled out a hair bobble where she tied her long and beautiful hair into a bun with a few strands left free to frame her face. she also took off her jacket and pulled out sunglasses so she could at least pretend she was invisible. once she was happy with her image she left the bathroom and walked right into Tanith.  
"Oh, I'm sorry."Tanith apologized.  
"It's okay, don't worry." Valkyrie said back, keeping her head down and walking round Tanith to get to her booth. Skulduggery had seen what had gone down so he left the correct money on the table then spoke to the children.  
"Time to go now." he said as Valkyrie got to the booth.  
"That was close." Valkyrie whispered to Skulduggery.  
"What was close?" Lilith spoke up.  
"Nothing sweetie, let's go."  
"Looks like we are going to be living out of the car in future." Skulduggery said as they exited the shop.  
"Yipidy doo dah." Valkyrie answered. Skulduggery looked at her weirdly.  
"Val, are you okay?"  
"Peachy."

Valkyrie couldn't get her mind off Tanith. Why was she here in the US? Valkyrie didn't think the chance encounter had anything to do with chance. Tanith had been there for them, maybe had even followed them for a while. But what was it about her that was off? Valkyrie couldn't put her finger on it. She turned to Skulduggery and spoke quietly. "Skulduggery, I think Tanith has been following us and I don't know why. She wanted us to see her, to know she is here. If she meant to turn us in she would have done it by now."

"I agree. There was something wrong with her. I don't know what it was. She looked normal, but just off somehow. She knew it was you, I know she did. I saw her expression. Ah, that is most likely her now. I've never seen her drive anything other than a bike of some sort, I'm most impressed." A large RV had loomed up in the rear view mirror and although it was hard to make out the driver there was no mistaking the blond hair or cheerful grin.

"Do you think she still has the remnant in her? Because she once told me that she couldn't live without her bike." Valkyrie suggested.  
"Maybe. Or she has her bike stashed somewhere and uses something that looks like it is a little inconspicuous." Skulduggery countered. "That way we can at least imagine she is herself and not the remnant."  
"Except the fact that that RV looks like something she could use to kidnap us in."  
"We have to face her sometime and if she is working with Bespoke, Ravel and Mist," He couldn't even speak their names. "Then there's two of us and Dillen. He is only seven and can do magic pretty well." Valkyrie surrendered to the need to see Tanith properly.  
"Okay, pull over." she then turned to Dillen and Lilith. "Okay, right guys, we need to make a quick stop. Dillen, if anything back happens, then look after Lilith okay?" Dillen nodded as they pulled over. Skulduggery and Valkyrie got out while Lilith and Dillen stayed put watching out the window as Tanith pulled up behind them and got out.

Valkyrie and Skulduggery walked towards the RV and the door opened, but it wasn't Tanith that stepped out, it was Billy-Ray Sanguine. He grinned cheerfully. "Well, howdy. Just imagine meetin' you all here." He said happily. Sanguine looked happy to see them and it worried both detectives.

"What do you want with us?" Skulduggery asked abruptly and Billy-Ray grinned.

"To join up with you all. How far you think that tiny puddle jumper your drivin' is gonna get you? Come on with us, we ain't here to hurt you. Shoot, I take any chance I can to irritate that Ghastly fellah and I reckon helpin' you all is gonna put a burr under his saddle."

Valkyrie wondered if Billy-Ray had been possessed as well. He seemed off. He was Texan but he never really spoke like he came out of a spaghetti western.

"Are you okay Billy-Ray? You look a bit pale." Valkyrie said, her motherly instincts kicking in.

"Yeah, I'm great! So you comin' or what?" Valkyrie turned to Skulduggery for an answer.

"I'm not sure." Then Skulduggery turned to Sanguine. "How do you know we are on the run from Bespoke?"

"Tanith overheard you."

"But she wasn't there when we were talking about it." Sanguine put his hands in his pocket and drew out a remote of some kind.

"Busted." He said as he tapped a few buttons on the remote. Skulduggery and Valkyrie heard a faint beeping and looked around to find the source. Valkyrie looked over to the car to see Dillen holding something flashing red in his hands. She ran over and yanked the door open, taking the bomb and running over to the other side of the road and through the trees. Ignoring the shouts of protests from Skulduggery, Valkyrie raced through the trees to a clearing in the dead centre of the forest. She threw it as far as she could and started running as fast as she could. With her lungs burning and lactic acid coursing through her limbs telling her to stop and rest, she ran for her life and through all the panting, she heard the bomb explode and her world rocketed.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N this is part 2 of Chapter 9 "Back in time."**

**I don't own anyone or anything except Skul- wait, what? what do you mean he's gone? Dang it!**

**Sorry it has taken me so long.**

**Enjoy ya idjits!**

Valkyrie landed in a heap on an empty street of 1627. She groaned and got up to find Mandy standing in front of her wearing a big rich black puffy dress with a white frilly neckline and white buttons from the neckline to where the skirt started. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a bun with a few curls loose to frame her face. Even in 1627 clothes, she looked elegant and graceful. In her arms she held a slaves dress. It was an ugly brown with dirt splashed on it and a plain frilly white pinafore. Valkyrie gaped at it in disgust and then looked at Mandy.

"You can't expect me to wear that!" she protested.

"I don't expect you to wear anything." Mandy answered. Valkyrie sighed in relief. "As your owner, I order it." Valkyrie gaped at her smug smile and grabbed the dress.

"Where am I meant to get changed?" she asked Mandy. Mandy pointed to a stable across the road and Valkyrie walked over and went in. Once changed, Valkyrie came out. She walked up to Mandy and asked her, "What am I actually doing here?" Mandy answered with grace, "You are my slave and I will try to cut you some slack but I cannot guarantee anyone else will." Valkyrie nodded, fully understanding.

"So where are we going?" Valkyrie asked a couple moments later.

"To be honest, I have no idea. I was told by my boss that someone would pick us up in a few minutes."

"Whoa... hold up. You have a boss?" Valkyrie asked, astonished.

"Well duh. We're not _all _devious troublemakers you know." Valkyrie stared at her and then something behind Mandy caught her attention. It was a horse drawn carriage. Valkyrie gaped at it having never seen one. "Do you gape for a living?" Valkyrie looked at her with a death glare which made Mandy hold her hands up in innocence.

When the carriage reached the two, someone got out and stood in front of Mandy and Valkyrie. "Who are you?" Mandy said.

"I was sent from your boss." The man replied. He had a soothing voice and was wearing a vicar suit which entailed a long black robe with white piece of card in the collar joining it up. His leather shoes shimmered in the sunlight.

"Aren't your clothes a bit futuristic?" Valkyrie asked, worried they would be discovered.

"It's fine. We just tell them that we got them from London." The man replied. He had dirty blonde hair and cute blue eyes. He didn't look like a vicar. He looked like a male model he was so buff.

"What am I doing here again?" Valkyrie asked slightly annoyed that she had been dragged back in time about 400 years and been forced to be a slave.

"You have to keep an eye on someone." Mandy answered.

"Why can't you do it?" Valkyrie whined, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Because we can't get close enough to look out for them."

"So, basically you want me to go undercover and intrude on someone's life?" Mandy tipped her head from side to side.

"Yeeaaah, pretty much." She said after a while.

"Is it Skulduggery that I have to keep an eye on?" Mandy stared at her in confusion.

"How-?" She said gaping like a goldfish.

"I saw a picture of us...in this time...as slaves...when I was in the library overhearing-"

"Eavesdropping-"

"-overhearing Skul and China arguing about telling me something. I reckon it was this that they were talking about." She explained waving her arms in the air, indicating her surroundings.

"Okay, well, we need to get going." Said the man from the carriage. Valkyrie looked sceptic for a moment then followed Mandy.

Once settled, Valkyrie started to dig.

"So... as your 'slave', what do I have to do?" She wondered aloud.

"Well, it's just the usual, sweeping, cooking and cleaning." Valkyrie groaned. "Short version, Skulduggery is the only sorcerer slave there and a friend of mine is going to play my 'Husband' so he will cut you some slack but there will be people in the servants' quarters that will not be so friendly.

"But, why couldn't I just pretend to be your niece or something?"

"Actually, that's a really good idea."

"So can I?" Valkyrie asked hopefully.

"No." she pouted.

"Why not?"

"Because everyone has already been informed of a new _slave_ not a niece." Valkyrie stuck her tongue out and looked out of the window. The scenery was rather beautiful. Well it _was_ the countryside so there were fields upon fields of lush greenery. There were a few horses millering around in the stables just beyond the apple tree and to the right of a humungous castle like mansion. It was actually just a small castle.

"What is this? Medieval?" Valkyrie mumbled. If Mandy heard, she didn't show it.

"When we get there, I'm going to take you to Declan, my 'husband',-"made quote marks with her fingers at the husband part. "and then I'm going to leave you in the hands of my daughter, Jackie, where she will show you round." Valkyrie just stared. "What? Your stare is actually very intimidating." Mandy stated. Valkyrie shrugged.

"Comes with the job, it's just that, well, I never thought of you as a mother." Mandy shrugged. "Have you got any other kids?" Valkyrie inquired. Mandy nodded and explained.

"I have a daughter called Jackie and a son called Peter. Technically though, he isn't mine. He's my ex-husbands and his wife but they both died in a car crash and I took him in." Valkyrie looked up at her and apologised for the loss. Mandy just nodded in understanding.

"What are they like?" Valkyrie questioned, looking out the window at the passing views.

"Jackie," Mandy started, "Is a beautiful 21 year old girl. She is an adept. Her speciality makes her turn invisible. That makes her a cheeky devil in my eyes," there was a wide grin on her face as she carried on talking, Valkyrie hanging on to her every word. "Peter on the other hand specials in healing. Where Jackie is sneaky and cheeky, Peter is gentle and keeps to himself." a faint smile was playing at her lips. "He is just like his daddy."

"You still loved him didn't you?" Mandy nodded a sad smile on her face. It was a few minutes later, filled by light chit chat, when they arrived at their destination. It was the castle-like-mansion from earlier except up close it looked amazing. It was built with large old greying bricks. Valkyrie stared at the magnificent building in awe.

"This is where I am going to work?" Mandy nodded with a smug smile on her face.

"Do you still not want to work for me?" Valkyrie looked at her and stuck her tongue out. The carriage stopped at the thick wooden door leading into the big mansion. Valkyrie and Mandy got out and made their way up the steps to go in. There was lush green grass everywhere with cherry blossom trees scattered in a circle and orchids arranged neatly in the flowerbeds. Valkyrie vaguely remembered reading something in China's library about orchid's meaning '_delicate beauty'._ There were also stones instead of pavement going from the cobble-street road to the steps leading to the mansion. A pretty-patterned butterfly flew up to Valkyrie and perched itself on her shoulder. Mandy smiled at the scene and jumped at the loud creak of the door opening. The butterfly flew off and the two girls walked in.

There was a grand red carpet leading to two flights of stairs and to the left and right hallways of where Valkyrie stood. Mandy lead her through the kitchen on Valkyrie's left where a young girl of about nineteen was cracking an egg into a bowl and mixing with flour in a slaves dress much like Valkyrie's. They exited the kitchen and made their way through three more doors and two more hallways. Finally, they reached a door engraved 'office' and Mandy knocked. A voice from inside answered with a delicate, "Come in." And they entered.

**Please review.**

**~Fluorescent Rose xx**


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